Angels
by tiger002
Summary: Life is a series of moments, consisting of the times we laugh, the times we cry, and the angels who guide us along the way.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Greetings.

I come to you today to present my new story.

I know this comes as no surprise to you; you scavenge the pages of this site looking for stories. However, I hope, that in someway, this story will be different than the others.

To give you an idea of this story, I'd like for you to picture a cemetery, with all the grave markers strewn across the field. You'll notice some families buried together; yet some bodies are just placed beside those they never knew. I'd argue that this assortment of the dead says something about the living as well, but that is for another time.

Now. Focus your mind on a single tombstone. You'll notice some things. While they vary greatly, some things are constant. You will see a name. Date of Birth. A dash. A date of death.

The name is important, it tells how people know them. The name is who they are, their character, their hopes and fears; the name summarizes all these.

The dates are important too. They tell us the world they lived in, and give us a few hints as to how they lived their life.

Most importantly, and most overlooked is the dash. If it weren't for the dash, nothing else would matter. The dash is their life. All their accomplishments, their failures, all the times they laughed, the times they cried, the times they loved and were loved; these are all contained in that single dash.

That will be the story, the dash.

I don't claim this story as just my own, but something that was inspired by a number of sources.

First of all music.

The first act of this story is set to the song, Angels on the Moon, by Thriving Ivory, the older version. A link is available here: YouTube . com/watch?v=hLWlD4QRYJU This was the song that actually gave me the idea for the story.

The second act of this story is set to the song Anthem of the Angels by Breaking Benjamin. A link is available here: YouTube . com/watch?v=QB3pxBDZvf4

Beyond that though, many authors have touched me through their tear-jerking writing. This will be reflected in the story, both directly and indirectly. Stories that I know have influenced this the most include _The Martin Triplets, In this Memory, I'm Right Here_, but those are far from the only ones. They are the masters of the emotions, and I can only hope that my story will stand in the shadow of theirs.

Last but not least is the show itself. Suite Life has shown me characters that I love, and a foundation for my creative endeavors .

I also want to thank the-lovely-anomaly for being my beta-reader and helping me with the plot for this. I also thank her for allowing me to borrow Dr. Maps for this story. She truly is a brilliant writer, and this story wouldn't have been nearly as good without her.

Now, turn the page and see why, "Life is a series of moments, consisting of the times we laugh, the times we cry, and the angels who guide us along the way."


	2. Chapter 2: Tell Me Your Name

**A/N: **The song lyrics are from Thriving Ivory's Angels on the Moon

**Chapter 2: Tell me Your Name**

_Do you dream, that the world will know your name__  
__So tell me your name_

"You can do it, Zack!" a gentle voice rang out from the screaming crowd of thousands. Ordinarily, it would have been drowned out being so soft and so far away, but Zack heard it just fine and it was that one voice that gave Zack all the confidence he needed to show the world what he was made of. One thing that he could always count on was that Cody, his best friend and twin would be on the sidelines to cheer him on no matter how boring sports were to him. Even though it had been several years since they were on a team together, Cody would come to all of Zack's games just to be there for him. The state championship basketball game was no exception.

The older twin gazed around the court as he ran down its length. "Attack plan killer penguin," the coach said from the sideline. Zack had to chuckle at his coach's strange names for their plays, but it always kept the other team on edge. He turned his head briefly to meet the coaches eyes and gave a quick nod.

The other team's guard came forward and Zack blocked his way to the basket. He had to concentrate on his opponent's every move to make sure that nothing got past his defense. The other player juked to the right, attempting to throw Zack off, but to no avail; he wouldn't be fooled by such an amateur trick. His foe saw that he'd just have to run by him.

The other player ran to Zack's side, but the elder twin continued moving along with his opponent. His foe spun quickly, taking advantage of his momentum to get past him. However, Zack saw an opportunity as he slapped the ball out of the other player's control. Both teams ran at the ball, knowing that with only seconds left, this could change the game.

Zack's teammate Dylan was the first to get a hold of the ball, so Zack ran back to his team's basket. Several of the opponent's players had started surrounding Dylan so he tossed the ball down the court to Zack. With no opponents in the way, he easily made the lay-up, giving his team a one point lead with only 12 seconds left on the clock.

The crowd began cheering Zack's name. In the rush of the game, he couldn't be certain who started it, but he just knew that it was Cody. Even though making the potentially winning basket filled him with joy, there was still time for the other team to score and he wasn't about to . Zack's team fell back into a defensive passion, each player locking onto his opponent. One mistake could cost them the victory they had worked so hard to earn.

Ten seconds left, the ball was inbounded.

Eight seconds left, the opposing team charged down the court.

Six seconds left, the crowd erupted in cheers for the players.

Four seconds left, Zack's target got the ball and ran at him.

Three seconds left, the player planted his feet to take a shot.

Two seconds left, Zack jumped into the air to try blocking the ball, but to no avail.

One second left, the ball hit the rim and everyone in the arena held their breath.

Zero seconds left, the buzzer went off but the ball still had yet to go in. Instead, it bounced against the back board and rim and then fell. When it finally hit the floor, cheers of joy and sighs of disappointment filled the room. The ball had missed the basket, spelling victory for Zack's team.

"Way to go Zack!" Coach Little told Zack, ecstatic he'd just won his first state championship. Never before had Zack felt so proud of himself; those countless hours of practice had finally paid off. It wasn't easy to make it this far; since his freshman year he had worked his butt off to make it as a starting player, practicing everyday, oftentimes for several hours at a time. Now he was the one being recognized as the hero—the victor. He gazed up in the crowed at his twin who responded with a smile and a thumbs up. "It will be a long time till anyone forgets this game, or the name of Zack Martin," the coach said.


	3. Chapter 3: Know That I'm Alive!

**Chapter 3: Know that I'm Alive!**

_Do you care, about all the little things or anything at all?__  
__I wanna feel, all the chemicals inside I wanna feel__  
__I wanna sunburn, just to know that I'm alive__  
__To know I'm alive_

A week had passed since the championship and it was the first Saturday of Spring Break for the twins. They didn't have much planned, just glad to have a break from the drudgery of homework, classes, and all those other tortures of the educational system. They could sleep in till noon (or eight in Cody's case).

"Hey Cody, y'know what we haven't done for a while?" Zack said while fiddling with the buttons on his psp, angry at the game for making him lose for the tenth straight time.

"What?" Cody said not really caring as he peered up from his popular science magazine.

"Gone to the beach."

"What made you think of that?" he asked. It had indeed been a long time since the brothers had seen the beach, but Cody was rather surprised that Zack had brought it up.

"Well, it's the first weekend of spring break, and it just seems like something fun we could do together. I know even my nerdy brother doesn't want to stay inside and waste such a perfect day."

Cody gazed outside seeing the sunshine fall down upon the city, and could feel the niceness of the day even from inside. "I guess you're right; it's been like two years since Dad took us last time."

"And today is the first Saturday of spring break so we don't have homework to worry about. We have our license so we don't need anyone to take us. What do you say?"

"Sounds like a fun idea," Cody said, setting his book down and joining his brother as they walked out of their suite.

"Wait, we can't leave this fast," the younger twin protested once the door shut behind them.

"Why not?" Zack asked while rolling his eyes.

"We're just going without grabbing any stuff?" Cody asked seeing the flaws in Zack's plan.

"What would we need to bring?" the older twin said shrugging his shoulders. Zack never thought of necessities. Thinking ahead was for other people.

"Sunscreen for one."

"That's for wimps," Zack said with a careless wave of his hand.

"What about a beach bag, a towel, sun glasses, a hat, a book, a lounge chair, or a packed lunch?" Cody finger-counted all the items on his list as he mentioned them, the same way he did school supplies each semester. Even now, on vacation, he was being a nerd.

"We'll have the sand and the surf," Zack pointed out, trying to sound reasonable and resist the urge to bag on his twin's conscientiousness. "What would we need all those useless things for?"

"Well what about swim trunks? I don't know about you, but those might be helpful."

"So my little brother doesn't want to go swimming naked?" Zack asked with his signature goofy grin.

Cody just shook his head as he turned back to the room to get the things they'd need. Going into their closet, he grabbed their swimsuits before changing into his and tossing Zack's to him. He then took the books out of his backpack before putting the supplies he thought they might need, although he decided including the complete collection of Mark Twain novels might be a bit much. After leaving their mom a note telling her where they were going, they set off for the beach once more.

…

"Well we're finally here after you took like an hour to get ready," Zack sighed in the passenger seat of the car as they pulled into the crowded parking lot seeing all the others who had the same idea. "You really don't understand the spur of the moment thing do you?"

"Hey, at least I remembered everything, and even packed us a lunch so we don't have to pay the outrageous prices the venders here charge."

Zack couldn't deny the awesomeness of a Cody lunch so decided to be quiet and got out of the car with his brother's backpack and running to the first vacant spot they could find. Cody soon followed yelling at Zack to give him the sunscreen before he burnt.

"Fine here it is," Zack said tossing his brother the sunscreen before unfolding the green beach towel and laying it on the sand. He then slipped his sandals off and tossed his shirt to the side before dashing into the waves the only thing covering him his bright red swim trunks. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" he shouted to his brother who was trailing behind.

"Hey wait for me, I need to make sure my back and arms are thoroughly covered," Cody protested.

"Such a dork," Zack mumbled to himself. He didn't have time to waste on useless things like that. "Cannon ball!"

"You can't cannon ball into shallow water!" Cody reminded him, but that didn't stop Zack from trying.

The older twin jumped with as much force as he could muster and plummeted to the sandy bottom of the shallow water, relishing the sensation of coldness on his skin. Unhurt from the dangerous cannonball, he struggled to stand up and soon realized that his foot had gotten stuck in the murky sand. He wiggled it free, secretly grateful that he hadn't sprained an ankle. "Coming Codes?" he impenitently asked his brother.

"Yeah yeah," Cody groaned, slowly wading into the water and cautiously approaching his twin, afraid he might step on something and damage his feet. His swim trunks were similar to Zack's except his were bright blue instead of red, each one matching their owners' favorite color

"That was lame," Zack commented.

"I'd rather not hurt myself."

"Well, they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Zack swam away from his brother, out into the deeper waters. When he reached a good distance of several feet, treading water that went way over his head, he looked back at his twin and smirked proudly.

"Show off," murmured Cody.

Unlike his brother, Cody just enjoyed nature itself—just the sensation of being hugged in its gentle embrace. He allowed it to engulf him. He wiggled his toes delightfully as they sank into the murky sand below him and watched as the waves collided with his stomach. He was at piece with the ocean—at one with it. Everything felt flawless and in its place. The sun above him, the water enveloping the lower half of his body, the silky smooth sand coursing between his toes. Perfection. It was a warm spring day, unlike the blistering days of summer that would soon be upon them, and that made it easy for him to relax. After standing motionless for what felt like an hour but had to have been only about five minutes, he pushed off against the mushy ocean floor and floated on his back along the water's surface. He took several deep breaths, inhaling the salty smell that rested over the vast waters and closed his eyes, his mind drifting to the sounds of seagulls overhead. Their gentle caws nearly made him want to doze off, but he managed to stay awake. He was in complete bliss, away from the sounds of the city, surrounded only by the cries of nature.

"So you're just going to lay there all day?" Zack's voice came from somewhere rather near. With it came the sound and feel of disquieted water; he was swimming over to the place where his brother had floated.

"Why not? It's really relaxing," Cody said, briefly opening one eye to see his brother blocking the sun.

"You come up with the most boring ways to have fun," Zack criticized. Then he smiled, struck with a sudden idea. "Tag, you're it!"

Before Cody knew what was happening, he felt a shove against his chest and his body was completely submerged under the water. After reorienting himself and finding his way back to the surface, he saw Zack merrily swimming away again. 'Such a childish game,' Cody thought, but he knew Zack was right. There were times when he needed to remember the kid inside and just let himself have fun. Besides, he couldn't let Zack win. "You're not getting away that easily!" he warned.

Cody launched after his athletic brother, who proved difficult to catch. They swam out of the shallow waters to where the ocean was at least 15 feet deep and seemed bottomless. Once Cody had finally caught up to his brother, Zack took a big breath, immersed himself, and swam under Cody to get away.

He went under twice. "Too slow, little brother," he taunted once he breached the surface for air and was about to dive under again. This time though, Cody dove after him. The younger twin thought it was strange how a harmless taunt from his brother could get to him like this, but he wasn't going to just let Zack get away. They continued to descend, going deeper and deeper into the dark blue depths, Zack keeping a small lead on his brother, but not by much. After a few seconds had passed, the older twin began to resurface, the oxygen in his lungs quickly fading.

Zack broke the surface of the water, taking pleasure in the feeling of droplets falling from his hair and warm sunlight pounding down on him. He rubbed strands of hair that were obscuring his vision out of his eyes, which allowed him to fully take in the sight.

"Gotcha!" Cody said, tapping Zack's chest swiftly and unexpectedly before swimming away.

"Oh no you don't," Zack said with a grin before thrashing through the water to chase him down. With his superior strength, it didn't take long for him to catch up to his twin and wrap an arm around his stomach. "Now who's got who?" he said with a mischievous tone that told Cody what he was planning to do next.

"Don't you _dare _do-"

Cody's protest was cut short by Zack dunking them both under water. After a few seconds of his brother struggling, Zack let Cody go and they both rose to the surface, the younger one trying to get the disgusting taste of salt water out of his mouth while Zack just laughed at him.

"You're an evil brother, you know that?" Cody said.

"Yep, thanks for the compliment!"

Cody shook his head at his twin before swimming back to the shore. "I need something to get the taste of that out of my mouth."

A rumble in Zack's stomach told him to follow him. After all, that's where food was. And he was getting hungry.

"So what did you pack?" Zack asked once they were out of the water and made their way toward their beach towel.

"Just a couple chicken cordon blue sandwiches with a light mushroom sauce on toasted sourdough bread."

Zack could hardly control the drool that forced its way into his mouth. "Cody, I love you. Now let's eat."

Cody smiled at his brother while he pulled out a wrapped sandwich and handed it to him. Even Zack, who was known for making fun of his brother, couldn't help but compliment his cooking. Cody loved seeing how something he enjoyed doing could bring so much joy to others. He didn't let anyone know it, but he was always nervous when he tried out something new, afraid that he would mess up and everyone would hate it. He remembered how hard he tried at first and how many things he ruined, but over time, he learned.

"Dude, this is awesome!" Zack exclaimed through a mouth full of a delicious blend of meat, cheese, bread and spices, getting a small piece of something on Cody's shoulder, which he kindly brushed off and ignored.

"Need a drink?" Cody asked, pulling a couple bottles of water out of his backpack. Zack nodded, so his twin tossed him one.

Zack placed his half eaten sandwich on the towel so he could take a drink of water. "You know, you really should be a professional chef," he remarked. "It would suit you perfectly."

To Zack's surprise though, Cody began laughing. "I know it's strange for me to be nice to you, but it's not that funny."

"Not that," Cody said while trying to stifle his chuckles. He pointed beside Zack, and when the older twin turned to look, he saw a dog eating his lunch.

"Hey, give that back!" Zack demanded, which startled the dog into running away with the sandwich still in its mouth. Once it had gone a safe distance, it placed the sandwich down on the sandy ground in front of its paws and barked at Zack as if wanting to play. "Oh, I'm not letting you get away _that_ easily."

"You really want it even though it has dog slobber all over it?"

"You betcha!" Zack took off after the dog who, seeing him coming, picked the sandwich back up and began running again, easily evading him. The dog wound its way through the many vacationers, with Zack desperately trying to keep up. However, he soon lost his footing and fell to the ground, getting a mouthful of sand. The dog, seeing that it had won, finished eating Zack's lunch.

"I hope you're happy," a slightly amused Zack said from his awkward position on the ground causing the dog to respond by walking up to Zack and licking him in the face.

"Andy, come back here," a girl said as she walked up to Zack and the dog. She put a leach on the dog's collar as it barked eagerly to see her. "I'm really sorry if he bugged you. Apparently, the leash wasn't on as tight as I thought.

"It's fine," Zack told her, getting back to his feet, "Darn dog just ate my lunch."

"Yeah, Andy is good at taking food that's left unattended. Pizza, doughnuts, birthday cake…"

"Sandwiches," Zack added.

"Don't worry about it. I packed a couple extras in case we needed them for some reason," Zack turned to see that Cody had caught up to them.

"You two from around here?" the girl asked.

"We're from Boston," Zack replied, "So not too far away. What about you?"

"I'm from California, but flew here to visit my brother who goes to Boston College. We were supposed to go to the beach together, but he called last minute saying that he ate some bad shrimp and had food poisoning."

"Those shrimp can be dangerous," Cody commented with a nod, remembering the same thing happening to him before.

"This might seem strange, but are you two surfers?"

"Not really," Cody admitted.

"But we're always up for something new!" Zack added.

"Well, my brother and I always catch a few waves when we come here, but it's not much fun to do it alone."

"It's awfully crowded here though," Cody remarked, looking out at the vast population of beach goers.

"There's actually a spot about a quarter mile down the coast where there's not too many people. The shore is mostly rocks, so not many people go there and the waves are better. You can use my bro's surfboard if you want."

"What do you say Codes?" Zack urged.

"It should be fun," the younger twin consented with a smile.

"By the way, I'm Rebecca." The girl extended her hand for each of the twins to take, and shook theirs in turn.

The twins introduced themselves and followed her as she started sprinting toward the good surfing spot with her dog running beside her. As they tailed behind her, they entertained themselves by taking in her captivating figure. Her light brown hair flowed down to her shoulders, lightly bouncing as she ran; her skin was perfectly tanned, obviously from a lot of time spent outdoors, and her two–piece bathing suit did not leave much to the imagination.

"You _so_ like her," Cody said softly to his brother with a grin.

"Well, duh, on a hotness scale of one to ten, she scores a forty-two."

"Wow, I normally only get around the thirties," she said with a giggle that turned Zack's legs to jell-o. "Thanks."

His face turned a bright shade of red; he couldn't believe that he'd said that loud enough for her to hear. Fortunately for him, Cody saw his embarrassment and found a way to quickly change the subject. "What college do you go to?"

"UCLA. I'm studying journalism, but I probably spend more time out on the waves then I do hitting the books. Anyway, show me what you got," she instructed once they reached the waves.

Zack was the first in the water while Cody and Rebecca watched from the shore. He laid on the surfboard, carefully paddling his way out into the ocean. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass himself by falling off the board before he even got to a wave. Especially with such a hot babe watching him. He laid flat against the board's surface and clawed his way through the water. The board swayed back and forth as he paddled out toward a small upcoming wave.

Once he felt he was close enough to surf it, he decided it was time to stand up. Pushing his body into an upward position, he attempted to rise to his feet. Slowly. As the wave got closer and he felt it lift him up, he reminded himself not to panic or act too hasty. This experience was exhilarating, but still required careful planning. But of course, Zack wasn't proficient at careful planning. As soon as the soles of his feet came in contact with the surface of the board and he lifted up the top half of his body, he lost his balance. He slid and plummeted into the waters below, the surfboard flying into the air next to him. Cody and Rebecca couldn't help but laugh at Zack as he emerged from the water with a perplexed look on his face, trying to figure out what happened in the past couple seconds. At this point, he had given up on maintaining his pride so he joined the two in laughing as he grabbed the board and returned to shore where Andy playfully barked at him.

"Your turn, little bro," he said, giving Cody an encouraging but forceful shove.

Cody decided he didn't have anything to lose so he grabbed the board and paddled out into the ocean, careful to maintain his body's equilibrium so he wouldn't repeat his brother's mistakes. After all, surfing was simply Newtonian physics, his specialty. As a wave came, he carefully stood on the board, shifting his weight so as to not fall off the board. He felt the water under him ascend as the wave came, nearly throwing him over the side, but he managed to stay on. Before his mind was able to comprehend what was happening, he was riding it—rising to a high elevation and then gliding back down. In a moment that seemed to last forever, and yet over in a second, Cody felt incredible joy at soaring through the waters. With the wave gone, he too fell into the waters below.

"That was fun!" he exclaimed with a huge smile plastered across his face upon returning to the shore.

"Oh, that was nothing," Rebecca said. "These are small waves; imagine how much fun the big ones are."

"So how do you not fall off when riding them?" Zack asked, slightly annoyed that his brother had gotten the hang of it so easily while he'd fallen off when he just tried to stand.

"I'll show you," she offered, sitting upon her surfboard and signaling for Zack to get on it with her.

"Um, okay," he responded nervously but still sat on the board in front of her. He could swear her breasts were pushed against his back, but he wasn't complaining, nor did he want to embarrass himself by saying anything about it. They paddled out to the next wave and both stood up, Rebecca holding onto his hand to keep him from falling.

"When the wave comes you want to keep shifting your weight so that the board is at a constant angle. If you go too far into the wave you'll break it, but if you go too far against the wave you'll flip sideways like you did before."

"Okay," Zack nodded, gazing down at her feet as the wave approached them. It wasn't too large of one, just a couple feet, but Zack wouldn't let himself fall again this time. He moved his feet to maintain balance and as the wave came to him, he flew along its length, exhilarated at the feeling it offered him.

Minutes turned into hours as the three of them continued riding the waves. Before they knew it, the sun had moved from hovering overhead to just above the horizon. The blue sky had turned into an array of colors, blanketing the teens in a blend of red, yellow, and blue.

"We should probably be heading back; Mom's probably getting worried," Cody said.

"Yeah, you're right," Zack sighed. "I just didn't want this day to end."

"It's been great meeting you," Rebecca said.

"One more thing though," he added, and in an instant, he boldly gripped her cheeks and slammed their lips together. In the light of the breathtaking sunset, combined with the sounds of the waves gently crashing into the shore, they experienced their first kiss.

"Good idea, Zack," she said with a big grin across her face. "Give me your number so I can call you next time I'm in town."

He did and the two of them exchanged numbers before she got in her car with the dog and drove away, leaving the twins standing in the beach's parking lot. The warm air of the day had begun to fade into the coolness of evening and a gentle breeze blew through the parking lot, sending a shiver down the twins' still wet bodies.

"We should do this more often," Cody said as he got into the car and put the key in the ignition. The car started up and Cody began backing out of the parking space.

"See, and you say none of my ideas are any good."

"That might be because they normally end up with me in a giant vat of chocolate pudding."

"Hey, that only happened twice, and I for one would say if that happened to me, that meant it was a good plan."

Cody pulled out onto the street that would lead them back home.

"Well, apparently you don't know how hard it is to get pudding out of your ears or nostrils."

"It would still be worth it though."

Cody didn't know how to respond to that. One thing was for sure, life with Zack was never boring. There were some days where he wished he was an only child (like the day he was mummified alive), but Zack was always there for him to get him out of those bizarre situations. After all, that's what best friends—not to mention, brothers—were for, getting you into strange situations, and then doing everything they could to get you out.

"You see that?" Zack asked, pointing out the window as they went down the highway back to Boston.

"What was it?"

"A Dairy Queen sign. Get off here. Some ice cream sounds good."

Cody couldn't disagree, so he carefully got over into the far right lane and pulled off the highway. When they were younger, they would always stop by Dairy Queen on the way home from church every Sunday morning. Before their mom had gotten her job at the Tipton, it was one of the few consistencies in their lives. Carey wanted them to have something to look forward to, even if she didn't have enough money to buy ice cream for herself.

As soon as they entered the parking lot, Zack jumped out of the car. He didn't even wait for Cody to park. The car was still on motion when he opened the door and hopped out of it. "I'll take a double chocolate chip cookie-dough milkshake with extra cookies please," Zack said to the cashier while Cody looked on in surprise. Half of it was that Zack was in that much of the rush, and the other half was that he didn't see it coming.

After parking the car, Cody walked up behind his brother while his milkshake was being made. "Was that really necessary?" he questioned in an accusatory tone.

"Well, it wasn't _un_necessary," Zack replied, shrugging innocently. When his milkshake was handed to him, he grabbed it like an excited ten-year-old and headed toward one of the empty seats. Cody soon joined him with his own milkshake—a cookies-and-cream one.

While eating, Cody looked up. It was getting late and the stars were out. He looked at them wondrously, thankful that there weren't many city lights to obscure the amazing sight.

"It's really something, isn't it?" Zack asked, knowing his brother's thoughts.

"Yeah, they look like just tiny dots next to each other, when they are actually millions of miles across."

"Well, I was thinking more like a giant connect-the-dots game. See, there's a horsey." Zack pointed his spoon at the sky and used it to draw a shape across several stars.

"Like the ancients used to do many years ago—telling the stories from the consolations in the stars."

"So I wasn't the first one to think of that," Zack said with a defeated sigh.

"It's a good idea though. Maybe we can come up with our own."

"Sounds good to me." Zack pondered this while taking a drink out of his shake. "Well, you see those three stars in a line?" he eventually asked.

"Yeah."

"That's a snake, and those stars right above them…"

"Yeah, it looks kind of like a person."

"Exactly. That's a woman out in the plaza looking for a brand new pair of shoes, and…and the snake is coming after her."

"Then what happens?" Cody wanted to know. He loved to hear the way Zack's mind worked when he was focusing on something. And even more so, he loved the fact that Zack enjoyed focusing on little things like this; it was always the little things that mattered to him most.

"Then I got a brain freeze," the elder twin stated, gripping his head as a sudden spurt of pain shot through it.

Cody couldn't help but laugh at his brother's pain. He would have thought that after getting brain freezes so many times, Zack would have learned not to eat ice-cream so fast. However, the lesson hadn't quite caught on yet. Cody wasn't sure it ever would; practically nothing deterred Zack.

Zack continued rubbing his head while eating, much to Cody's confusion. "Shouldn't you stop eating until the pain goes away?"

"Well my theory is that if I keep eating, then I'll build up an immunity to it."

"That doesn't make any sense at all."

"When has that stopped me before?" Zack winced through the throbbing pain in his head, but still chugged the rest of his drink.

Cody just giggled and shook his head.

After enjoying a few more moments under the stars, the twins continued the journey home. Laughter and good music filled the air until they finally returned to the Tipton.

"Cody, you might have been right about something," Zack said once they entered the bedroom.

"What?"

"Sunscreen is definitely good idea." With the fun of the day, Zack hadn't even noticed that his body had turned a bright shade of red. He looked as though someone had taken a can of red spray-paint to him, and it was easy to tell that the burns wouldn't be going anywhere for several days.

"I can see that," Cody said, both amused and sympathetic. He had some red on his face shoulders, but nothing as bad as Zack.

"You don't know any miracle cures for sunburns, do you?"

"Sorry Zack."

"Well, look on the bright side, now I can't forget how great the day was…or how great it is to be alive."

"Good point. Well, I don't know about you but I'm tired; I think I'm gonna hit the sack."

"Me too. Sleep good bro."

Cody climbed into bed and allowed his overwhelming exhaustion pull him into the world of his dreams. In the darkness of the bedroom, he heard Zack's muffled cries of pain as his burned skin rubbed against his blankets. He wished there was something he could do to help, but knew that there wasn't. Fortunately, the sounds of pain were soon replaced by Zack's snoring. Relieved that his brother was no longer feeling any pain, Cody too fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4: I Don't Wanna Know

**Chapter 4: I Don't Wanna Know**

_Don't tell me if I'm dying, cause I don't wanna know__  
__If I can't see the sun, maybe I should go__  
__Don't wake me cause I'm dreaming, of angels on the moon__  
__Where everyone you know, never leaves too soon_

Encased in the darkened room, the twins rested, accompanied by dreams of the fun day that they couldn't get out of their minds. Ordinarily, Cody would have been up long ago, not wanting to waste the day. However, his exhausted body slept several hours later than he had originally planned. Eventually, the younger twin's body refused to let him sleep any longer with sunlight slowly filtering through the closed blinds and striking his eyelids.

Cody returned to the realms of consciousness, blinking several times to adjust to the darkness giving way to light. He laid in bed for a few moments, enjoying the bliss that sleep brought him. He mentally debated whether he should return to sleep for a little while longer, but once he saw the digital clock telling him it was noon, he decided he had spent enough time sleeping.

"Zack, wake up; it's noon," he said softly while tossing the blankets off him and getting to his feet. The cool air of the room was a sharp contrast to the warmth of the blankets, especially since he was clothed only in a white t-shirt and blue boxers. He knew his body would get used to the change once he got dressed, but for now, he was cold.

On his way to his closet, he decided to walk over to Zack's bed to wake his brother up. However, on the way there, he felt himself being pulled unwillingly to the floor and with a thud, he found himself face first on the ground with his knees throbbing. Looking behind him, he saw the culprit, Zack's skateboard.

Cody had planned to just gently wake Zack up, but a little petty revenge never hurt anyone, so he made his way to the blinds, happy that the sun was shining right in the window and lifted them completely filling the room with the light of day. This instantly broke Zack out of his dream of waffles and penguins causing him to try to bury his eyes beneath the blankets, but to no avail.

"Good morning Zack," Cody said with a grin.

After fighting with his blankets for several seconds to escape their imprisonment, Zack's head found freedom and he stared at his brother with a look of confusion, annoyance and bewilderment. Cody couldn't help but laugh at the look on his brother's face combined with his hair sticking out in every direction possible

"What was that for?" Zack asked innocently.

"For that," Cody said pointing to the skateboard on the floor, "Making me trip and scrape my knee."

"You should have watched where you were going," Zack protested before getting out of bed. Cody would normally argue with his brother, but the sight of Zack's tomato red skin made all the anger in him disappear. "What are you laughing at?" he asked trying to sound intimidating, but he knew it would be to no avail.

"Do you have to ask?" Cody replied, his laughter continuing to grow.

"Whatever," Zack said shrugging his shoulders wincing at the pain of the contact between his shirt and shoulders. "I'll try taking a shower to see if that will help the pain," Zack said as he grabbed a change of clothes out of the closet and left the room.

Once Zack was gone, Cody grabbed his own clothes out of the closet. He pulled on some blue jeans and a Redsox t-shirt before heading out to the main room to see if his mom had attempted breakfast, and if it was still salvageable.

"Morning mom," he said as he noticed her sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal.

"You two slept in. I was going to make us breakfast, but didn't know how long you'd be in bed."

He wanted to say 'That's probably for the best,' but instead decided on, "That's fine, I can make something for Zack and me."

"Sweet mother of a killer penguin! Hot water on a sunburn is not a good idea!" Cody and Carey both stared at the bathroom for a second, wondering if they should laugh or do something to help Zack, but figured they couldn't do much other than make sure he remembered to use sunscreen next time.

"I guess I should get to cooking then."

Within moments, Cody had cracked several eggs and had those frying on the skillet while he had taken several pieces of bread out of the cabinet to make homemade French toast. He also made sure to grab the applesauce that the twins both loved as a topping. Cody wouldn't deny it was strange, but after Zack convinced him to try it, he loved it.

Several moments later, Zack emerged from the bathroom in only a towel and walked to the kitchen to see what the delicious smell was coming from. "Breakfast?" he asked while deeply inhaling.

"Yep, it should be ready soon."

"Awesome," Zack exclaimed, imagining the tantalizing flavors that would soon cover his taste buds. However, his voice soon switched from excitement to concern as he decided he couldn't put the conversation off for much longer. "Bro, can I ask you something?" he said softly.

"Yeah, what is it?" Cody asked while running the whisk through the eggs, making sure they would cook evenly.

"What is your name?"

"Huh?" Cody responded, not sure if he heard him right, and if so, wondering why his brother would be asking such a strange thing.

"I can't seem to remember it," Zack admitted, shrugging his shoulders. All morning he had tried, knowing that it was something obvious and feeling ridiculous that he couldn't remember his own twin's name, but for some reason, it completely eluded him.

"It's Cody."

Zack stared at his brother for a moment, testing the knowledge against what he remembered to see if it made sense. He waited for any assurance from his brain that it was true, and yet nothing came. However, he knew his brother wouldn't lie to him about that, so he decided it had to be true. "Thanks."

"Are you okay?" the younger twin asked, both curious and frightened at how Zack could forget something so simple.

"I'm not sure Cody," he replied, testing the feel of his brother's apparent name on his lips to see if it seemed to fit. Still, there was nothing that led him to believe either way.

"Does anything else seem wrong?"

"Not that I know of."

"You remember Mom's name?"

"Yeah, Carey."

"Dad's?"

"Kurt."

"The candy counter girl you've always had a crush on?"

"Maddie," Zack answered easily.

It was obvious he didn't have complete amnesia, but still it seemed odd to Cody that his brother had forgotten his name so easily. So he tried one more person. "The hotel manager?"

"Donald," Zack responded, just as easily as the others.

"Are you sure?" the younger twin asked, hoping Zack had not heard the question right.

"Positive."

"I think we need to take you to the doctor soon," Carey said, walking over to her sons with a feeling of dread in her heart.

"Yeah, the manager's name is Marion Moseby," Cody explained, but Zack just started at him as if he had just said he was going to cross-dress to join a beauty pageant.

"That can't be," Zack said looking at the ground and shaking his head. He would have bet anything that the manager's name was Donald. It wasn't like with Cody, when he didn't know; this time, he knew it…but somehow, he was wrong.

"Zack, honey," Carey said worriedly, "I'll go call the doctor and we'll take you over there later today." She was terrified. Something was wrong with her son and she didn't know what it was or what else she could do. "Is there anything else that seems wrong—even something you wouldn't normally tell us?"

"Well, I've had a bad headache the past few days and it was really bad when I got up today. But I already took some Tylenol so I wasn't too worried about that."

Cody tried to think about the situation logically, thinking about any possibility that could cause this to happen. "Have you hit your head recently?" Head trauma could cause both the headaches and the memory loss, so hopefully they could find some way to help him before it got worse.

"Well, I hit the water pretty hard yesterday when we were surfing, so I might have landed on my head at some point. I don't remember anything else that could cause it."

"It might have given you a concussion then," Cody responded logically. While something like that wasn't a good thing, if that was all that it was, the memory loss shouldn't be permanent.

"Is there anything I should do then?" Zack asked.

"Well, don't do anything that could be dangerous…incase you pass out or something," Cody said, thinking back to their health class when they had learned about the brain. "We don't know the extent of the injuries."

"So just take it easy till we go to the doctors today," Carey said calmly, banking on the hope that everything would be resolved by that.

Their conversation was soon interrupted by the smoke detector going off, causing all three of them to turn to the stove in realization that smoke was rising.

"Well there goes breakfast," Cody said with a sigh.

"Now it will be just like Mom's cooking!"

Several nervous hours passed for the Martin family. After Cody tried salvaging their breakfast, Zack convinced him that poptarts would be good enough. So the twins went to their room to find something to do until Zack's doctor's appointment. They tried playing video games, but that wasn't a good combination with Zack's headache; they didn't want to go anywhere, afraid that something else could happen to Zack. Eventually they got out Monopoly and played that for a few hours until it was time to leave.

"Boys, are you ready?" Carey called from the main room just as Zack was sent to jail for the thirteenth time that game.

"Yes, mom," they replied in unison, quickly putting on their shoes and leaving the suite together.

A heavy silence fell upon them as they drove to the doctor's office across town. Carey was tempted to say something to comfort her sons, but more than that, she wanted to pretend that there was nothing wrong—that they didn't need comforting. She knew doing so was foolish, but she couldn't bear the thought of her baby being in danger.

Cody wanted to tell Zack that everything would be all right—to promise him that he would be his normal self within a day—but deep down, he knew that wasn't the case. He was still clinging to the theory that it was just a minor concussion, but something seemed off in the link that he shared with his brother. It was hard to explain to anyone else what is was like, but he could tell when something was wrong with Zack. And something definitely was.

Zack gazed out the window, looking at the blue sky over the Boston skyline. He felt like he was in a daze—like he hadn't completely woken up yet—and waited for his mind to fully regain consciousness. But that moment never came. It was as if a part of him was being chained down and couldn't escape, no matter how hard he tried to set it free.

"Here we are," Carey said somberly as she parked the car, and the three of them slowly got out and walked toward the doctor's office. Upon entering, the white walls painted a bleak picture of their future. Several elderly patients sat in the waiting room, wondering how long it would be until they were called. There was also a little girl who kept coughing into her shoulder while continuously bugging her father about not feeling well. Sitting on the father's other side was a boy who had his arms crossed and a look of annoyance across his face, likely the sick girl's brother.

"We're here for an appointment for Zack Martin," Carey informed the receptionist while the twins took a seat. Cody began flipping through a popular science magazine, irritated that it was from six months ago, while Zack reached for one of the sports magazines, not really caring about the contents, but just needing something to occupy his mind.

"Are you Zack Martin?" a voice called out, snapping the older twin out of his thoughts.

He looked up and saw the boy who had been sitting across the room with his sick sister a few minutes ago. Zack tried to place the image in his mind, but he didn't remember this boy. He feared that more of his memory had faded, so he quickly shot Cody a glance. The younger twin responded by shrugging his shoulders.

"Sorry, do I know you?" Zack asked.

"Well no, but weren't you the person who won the state basketball championship?"

A smile spread across the older twin's face. He dreamed of the day when he would be a world famous sports star/secret agent and adored by millions of fans wherever he went. He never thought it would happen this soon though. "Yeah, that's me."

"That's so cool. My family goes to all the games, and you're my favorite player. You remember the time last game when you were surrounded by the three guards but didn't let that stop you?"

Zack thought back to the game. There were so many things that happened, he knew he couldn't remember all of them, but he didn't want to let his fan down. "Yeah, I can't believe we still scored."

"Especially since you didn't take the shot but passed it to Cole so he could make the basket since he was wide open."

"It doesn't matter who makes the basket, the points still count the same for the team," Zack said, remembering the lessons his coach taught him about teamwork. It wasn't just about being the best player. Five great players didn't make a great team if they couldn't work together.

"It's still cool to be the star of the team though."

"That it is," Zack said with a slight laugh. Even though he wasn't all about himself when he was playing, he still loved it when he could be the center of attention

"I want to be like you," the boy said. "Next year I'll be a freshman at the high school and I'm going to try out for the basketball team."

"It will be a lot of hard work," Zack warned his admirer.

"Well, I've been practicing as much as I can with my friends, but I saw how few freshman there were on the team."

"Yeah, back when I first joined the team I was by far the worst. I was really arrogant, so that first year was a humbling experience. I didn't give up though; I just kept on getting better and learning from the upper classman. Some days I felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion, but I kept going."

"Wow, that sounds hard."

"You should have heard all his complaining after he got home for the first few weeks," Cody added.

"Hey, you try running five miles for a warm up and being chipper afterwards," Zack retaliated.

"Was it really that much?" the young teen asked.

"Well, maybe not five miles each day, but practices sure weren't easy. Still, if it weren't for being pushed so hard, we wouldn't be ready for the tough teams we had to face."

"You think you could help me sometime? I really want to get better but I don't know anyone to teach me."

"Yeah, how about Monday at the rec center near the school?"

"That'd be awesome!" he exclaimed.

"Zack, the doctor is ready to see you," Carey called her son.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Neal."

Zack slowly walked back into the doctor's examining room with his brother and mother beside him. He sighed deeply, the overly sanitized smell filling the air and making him feel like he'd get yelled at if he got dirt on anything.

"Please wait in here and Dr. Thomson will be with you shortly."

"Great, more waiting," Zack complained, sitting on the uncomfortable examining bed while Cody and Carey sat in the waiting chairs.

Fortunately, the wait wasn't as long as he thought it would be as, this time, the doctor came in after only a few seconds. He was wearing the signature white coat, had a stethoscope around his neck and held a clipboard in his hand. "Good to see you again Zack," he greeted the older twin politely. "I take it you are here because of your sunburn?"

"Well, not really, but if you have anything to help, I won't object to it," Zack said. "I've had some strange memory lapses, and a really bad headache this morning. It feels like there's something inside my head about to explode."

"Have you hit your head at all recently?" Dr. Thomson asked, thinking the same thing as Cody, that it might be a concussion.

"Not that I remember, but Cody thinks I may have forgotten about that too."

"It's a possibility," the doctors said, turning to one of the cabinets along the side wall to take out a paper that listed the normal symptoms of concussions. "Have you experienced any uncharacteristic emotions?"

"Not that I know of," Zack said, turning toward his brother.

"He's as normal as he ever is," Cody added.

"Any physical impairments, like difficulty walking?"

"No, that seems fine."

"That's odd," the doctor said. "Have you experienced any vomiting?"

"Not since Mom gave me food poisoning two weeks ago."

"Zachary!" Carey exclaimed indignantly.

"It's true," he said defensively, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm not supposed to lie to doctors, after all."

"Well, I recommend having an MRI done. I'd be leery letting something like this go untreated in case there is a serious issue here. I believe we have an opening with our neurologist today if you want."

"Yes please," Carey said, wanting to get answers so that this whole episode would be over and they could get back to normal life.

"I'll make a call then," the doctor said as he left the room.

"You nervous Zack?" Cody asked, noticing how his brother had been strangely quiet lately.

"Would it help if I lied and said I was fine?"

Cody didn't know what to say to his brother. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, longing for the good news to come that would mean everything was fine…but which wasn't to be found here. "Probably not."

"I just wish this headache would go away," Zack said, rubbing his head desperately to alleviate the pain.

"The Tylenol didn't help?"

He merely shook his head at his brother.

As Cody tried thinking of anything else that he could do, Dr. Thompson reentered the room. "Good news Zack, I was able to make an appointment for you in half an hour across town. I'm sorry that I couldn't have been of more help."

"Do you have anything that can take care of my headache at least?" Zack pleaded.

"Well, I have a few pills of tenoton, which might help some," he said pulling some medicine out of the cabinet. "Take one every six hours, and the throbbing should subside."

"Thanks doc."

The Martin family soon left the local doctor's office and drove across town to the neurology clinic. A benefit of living in such a big city was that they never had to go far for whatever they needed. However, a downfall of the big city was the traffic jams that seemed to plague them whenever they drove through the downtown roads.

"Come on, _move_!" Carey urged vehemently under her breath as they pulled up behind a line of traffic that had suddenly come to a halt. She was given a one finger wave by someone who she apparently cut off, but she didn't care about that.

"Think there's an accident up ahead?" Cody asked, trying with no success to look over the many cars ahead.

"We might be stuck for a while then," Carey sighed.

They expected Zack to say something—to at least protest the long wait—but upon looking in his direction, they found his eyes closed and his head resting against the car door. "You okay Zack?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, sorry. I feel kind of tired all of a sudden."

Normally they would have just brushed that off as Zack acting random, but this instance seemed to be yet another piece of odd behavior that frightened them.

"Your head feeling any better?" Cody asked, thinking that a nap might have helped him.

"Maybe a little bit, but I'm so sleepy. Can you guys wake me when we get there?"

Carey and Cody exchanged a look of both concern, but they both knew they couldn't do anything about it so they let Zack rest until they reached the neurology clinic a half hour later.

…

"Zack Martin, I presume?" A doctor came out to the waiting room to greet them.

"Yeah," Zack said with a nod.

"Dr. Thomson referred you for an MRI to see if you had a concussion or something else. Have you had one before?"

"No. Will it hurt?" the older twin nervously asked.

"Don't worry, the procedure is completely painless. I just have to run through a few questions. First of all, do you have a pacemaker or any other metallic implant?"

"Nope."

"What about shrapnel, bullets, or any pieces of metal in your body?"

"Nope."

"Claustrophobic, or any iodine allergies?"

"Claustrophobic, no. Iodine allergies, not that I know of," Zack replied, tired of all the questions.

"Are you nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant?"

"Yes, I'm eight months along with twins Sherry and Michael," Zack said as evenly as he could, which caused Cody to chuckle slightly until they doctor flashed him a stern look to silence him.

"And I'm the father," Cody sarcastically added.

Carey turned away in embarrassment, pretending she didn't know either of them.

"We'll get the machine ready for you," the doctor said, ignoring the joke. "If you want, you can have a family member accompany you into the room as long as they won't be adversely affected by the magnets."

"Cody?"

"Sure Zack."

"Please follow me then." The doctor led them down a series of hallways that seemed to bear a strange resemblance to the halls at the other doctor's office earlier. Upon entering the correct room, they saw a big white cylinder, about six feet in diameter with a small opening that Zack would lay in.

"Wow, it's just like those wormhole generators in the sci-fi flicks," Zack commented. "Maybe there'll be an accident and I'll get sucked through a tear in the space-time continuum and end up on Planet Bikini."

"You watch too much TV," Cody remarked.

"In order to see if there is any abnormal growth in your brain, we'll need to inject you with some iodine," the doctor said, picking up a syringe and holding it before him.

"Wait, I thought you said this would be painless," Zack protested.

Cody thought it was funny how a tough-acting guy like Zack could be intimidated by a small needle, but he couldn't criticize him for it because it was one fear they both shared. Having a foreign object forced into his body was something he passionately hated.

"Don't worry, you won't feel more than a small pinch," the doctor assured Zack as he sanitized a spot on Zack's arm.

"That's what they always say, but that doesn't stop the shot from hurting," Zack rebuked. A moment later, the metal tip broke the skin and carved its way into Zack's flesh. His face contorted in pain and a single tear found its way out of his eye.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"Let me borrow that and I'll be glad to show you," Zack said with a slight malicious grin.

"Zack, no hurting the people who are trying to help you," Cody said.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one they want to probe in weird ways." He made several strange hand gestures to emphasize his point.

After another agonizing string of questions, Zack was finally laid down on a narrow platform and squeezed into the massive white machine. There, he waited for the MRI to begin. The doctor and technician both left the room so they could monitor the results while Cody stayed inside with Zack.

"You okay in there, bro?" the younger twin asked nervously.

"How long is this going to take?" Zack wanted to know, his eyes rolling in irritation.

"I think they normally take about half an hour. Remember you have to stay perfectly still or it will cause your stomach to explode."

"I'm not about to fall for something that dumb," Zack said. "Remember I was the one who convinced you that a foot was going to grow in your stomach when we were younger."

"Don't remind me. I told mom I needed to go to the emergency room."

"Yeah, and then she grounded me for a week once she realized I did that."

Suddenly, the MRI machine began growling loudly and making strange noises as if someone was taking a hammer to it. "Don't worry," the doctor's voice said through the speaker. "You might feel slightly warm where we are scanning, but please stay still."

Zack did as he was told, not sure of quite what to expect. He knew there shouldn't be any pain, but they said that about the shot too. He closed his eyes, and just waited for it to pass.

A few moments later, the strange noises subsided. To his surprise, the procedure was as painless as he had been promised. Who knew doctors could actually tell the truth?

"We're going to need to take a few more scans, but it won't be much longer."

"You okay Zack?" Cody asked. From outside the machine, he didn't feel a thing, but wondered how Zack was feeling inside of it.

"I'm fine. If they installed a TV in the ceiling of this thing, I could live in here."

The half hour passed surprisingly smoothly. Zack didn't complain much and by the end of it, he had nearly fallen asleep. Cody was still worried about his brother, but at the same time, he was glad that everything seemed to be going well. However, in the doctor's office afterwards, the truth would be revealed.

"Well, we haven't been able to fully analyze the results, but we've discovered some unusual activity in his brain," the neurologist said solemnly. He brought up the images from the scan on his computer, which consisted of several colored markings near the bottom of Zack's brain.

"Is my baby okay?" Carey pleaded.

"I'm afraid not, ma'am. When we scanned the brain, we found an abnormal growth in the third ventricle. It looks like a tumor—a quite a large one at that."

A heavy silence fell over the room. For a brief second, they just let the news sink in, hoping the doctor would say something to make them feel better—that there was some good news coming.

It never came.

Finally, Cody was the one who managed to speak. "That means he has cancer?" He hoped against fateful hope that he was wrong, that this was all a simple understanding and his brother was perfectly okay. Deep down, though, he knew that wasn't so.

"There is a good chance of it," the doctor responded professionally.

The grim reality of the situation seemed all too distant from them. All too foreign. "Is there anything we can do?" Carey asked.

"We can use radiation and chemo to try fighting the tumor, along with possible surgery, though the fact the tumor is in the brain will make anything we do dangerous. We still don't know if it's malignant or benign, so it's too early to decide on what we need to do."

"Is he going to die?" Carey asked the question that hung heavy over the family.

"Don't," Zack softly spoke. He had been quiet thus far, trying to take in all the information, but this was one thing he didn't need. He continued speaking, his shaky voice slowing growing louder, "Don't tell me if I'm dying, cause I don't want to know. Maybe this will kill me, but I don't need to know when or where. Tell me about the treatments, and when you find out more about this tumor tell me what it is…but forget all that talk about death. "

"Okay. There isn't much else we can do from here, but we'll call you when we have more information."

"Thank you," the Martins said. Then they left the doctor's office and returned home from the meeting that had changed their lives forever.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah…

Now you should see where this story is going.


	5. Chapter 5: To See The Day

**Chapter 5: To See the Day**

_I want to live live  
Just to see the day  
When we all can get along_

No one knew what to say once they returned home that day. Zack collapsed onto his bed, despite it being only 6pm. Carey turned on the TV to add some background noise to the eerie silence that she felt was going to suffocate her. Cody opened up a text book and began reading, taking a full five minutes to realize that it was upside down.

Looking to his bedroom, Cody knew he had to do something. He couldn't let Zack face this alone, but for all his knowledge, the proper words for a circumstance like this still eluded him. He prided himself on knowing how to handle any situation. That's what school was for, to give him the tools to face the world. However, it sure didn't teach him what to do for this.

Staring at the letters on the page, hoping that the knowledge would somehow make him strong enough to handle what was going on, he found himself attempting to memorize every intricacy on the diagram of mitosis. If this were any other occasion, he'd find it fascinating how the cells within the human body knew how to duplicate whenever they needed to grow and repair wounds. But not now. Now, the fascination became a thing of disgust while his mind began pondering about the cells gone wild within his brother's brain. It didn't seem possible how something so pure and good could so easily turn into something so evil and destructive.

He slammed his book shut in revulsion. How could it just present the information so coolly and logically when the very same process was killing Zack? Cody knew it was ridicules to be mentally scolding an inanimate object like that, but what else could he do?

Frustrated with the day's events, he just wanted it to be over. He wanted to get away from the day, just to run, to get away from all of this. He tossed his book to the floor and ran from the suite, slamming the door behind him. For a second, he wondered if he had disturbed anyone, but he continued running, deciding not to care about anything else but getting as far away as possible. He slammed the button on the elevator door, knowing it wouldn't make it come any faster, but he had to get his frustrations out somehow.

The door opened to a thankfully empty elevator which he ran into. He stared at the buttons for a second, wondering where he was going. Another floor? The lobby? No, these would just lead to people, the last thing he wanted to see. He decided the roof would be the best hope for seclusion. It was getting dark and without the sun, it would cool off in a hurry, causing people to head back inside.

Finally the elevator reached the top. Could they go any slower? He walked out onto the rooftop, looking for nothing and finding just that. Seclusion, isolation, quiet. He looked up, the black of the night a backdrop for the bright lights of the city below. He was hoping to see the stars that he and his brother saw on their way back from the beach last night, but no, they weren't there. They were obscured by the damn city lights.

He pounded his fist against the concrete floor, anger pouring out, finding violence the only outlet. And for the normally peaceful twin, the violence felt good. He was angry — no anger wasn't the right word for it. He was furious, irate, fuming, enraged, seething, outraged. He slammed his hand against the cement again, it hurting, but the hurt felt right.

A tiny rain-drop splashed on his forehead.

"WHY?" He lashed out, reaching for the nearby pool chair and tossing it across the roof. He knew it was pointless, but it felt _good_ and that's all that mattered to him.

The rain started coming down a little harder. Just a sprinkle, but enough to remind Cody of its presence.

"Now what do you want?" He looked up at the sky with a sarcastic gleam in his eye. Half expecting some kind of response, but knowing he was just talking to himself.

A gentle wind blew by, sending a shiver across Cody's spine.

He looked to where the wind blew from and saw the pool, and the memories of the day at the beach rushed through his mind.

"Yeah, like those memories are going to help."

Was he really having a conversation with the weather? He knew emotions could lead him to doing things that made no sense. Maybe though, he wasn't completely crazy.

"God, is that you?" he asked. It wasn't that he didn't believe in God; he did, but the thought of God using the weather to talk to him seemed a bit absurd.

A flash of lightning lit up the horizon.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Cody fell to his knees his head falling into his palms. It had been a while since he prayed, but perhaps, this was an invitation to.

"God…" he started, though never knew the right words for something like this."Why?" He began with a simple question. Why would a God who was all good let something like this happen to Zack? Why did a God who was all powerful not stop something like this? Why would God even allow cancer to exist in the first place? "Why Zack?" Zack was just a kid. Cancer was something that should only affect old people. Old people had to die; that was the way life worked. But not kids. No, they were supposed to live forever. And out of all the people in the world, why did it have to be Zack?

"I don't understand," Cody said out of frustration, hitting his hand against the cement again, though not as hard this time. He noticed his knuckles had started to bleed and didn't want to cause anymore harm. He wanted to believe that this was all part of God's plan though, though that seemed like just a cliché for religious people. It didn't change the fact that his best friend had cancer.

"God, heal him," he prayed. "You can. I know it. So…please…please heal Zack. Make it all go away." He was asking for a miracle and he knew it. But he also knew that for an omnipotent God, a miracle should be easy. For a second, the scientific part of his mind cried out, saying that a miracle defied all rules of logic. But then, wasn't that the point of miracles? He'd seen miracles before. Logic might not explain it, but that didn't mean they didn't happen. He thought about the Matt incident, where he prayed for what he thought was an impossibility. And the next time he talked to his friend, he found out his prayer had been answered. Perhaps a bizarre coincidence, but Cody just knew it was something more.

"Please God; I love him," Cody pleaded. He could feel the tears running down his face. "H-he's my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without him." Cody never had many friends. He had some in the math and science clubs and he liked spending time with them, and it was a relief that he could talk to someone who knew the difference between the discriminate and the derivative of a function. But when he needed someone to talk to about his fears or personal advice, Zack was the one he went to. With his brother, he didn't need to impress anybody. Zack would listen, and at least try giving advice. And who else could he voice his newest idea to make Moseby's day…more exciting. The mere thought made him smile. Maybe they were too old for something like that, the nerds would say they should act mature and responsible, but Zack would say that fun was just as important as seriousness.

Cody got up, feeling slightly better. He felt as if some unseen voice had heard him, and it made him feel well better. He wasn't the one to carry all the burden anyone. Someone greater was with him. As he found his way back to the suite, he noticed his mom had fallen asleep with the TV still running. He pressed the off button on the remote before heading to his room. He tossed his wet clothes into the overflowing laundry basket before climbing into bed, making a note to do laundry in the morning. He closed his eyes, trying to drown all this thoughts and sorrows in sleep, but as he rested in the realm between sleep and consciousness, a thought forced its way into his mind. A simple phrase, but one he knew he had to remember. He grabbed a pen off his nightstand and the small notebook he kept in the drawer and wrote it down, not sure of what it meant, but not convinced the thought was just his own.

'_Keep your eyes on what is to come.'_

**A/N: **Well, I had wanted to avoid long author notes through this story…but one is needed here.

When I first started writing this, I didn't really relate to what was going on. However, this week, we found out that my uncle has been diagnosed with brain cancer, and he might not have long to live. Please pray for him and my family. Personally, I'm doing fine, since I'm not that close to him, but as for those closer to him… Due to this, I had considered putting this on hiatus, it not seeming right to fictionalize something that's happening to my family.

However, this story is about the bond of the family and more than that, the life lived in spite of the hard times. There are the happy times, the sad times, and those who share those moments with us. Live while we have the chance, for we don't know what tomorrow will bring, which might be for the best.

Also, writing this was helpful for me to get out some feelings. I put a lot of myself into Cody for this scene on the roof, if you know me, you might catch some references to my own life in there too. Thanks to Wounded Hearts in addition to TLA for betaing this.


	6. Chapter 6: So Everyone Can Hear

**A/N: **I updated this and chap 5 at the same time, so make sure you read them in order.

**Chapter 6: So Everyone Can Hear**

_I want to scream__  
__Scream my song out loud so everyone can hear_

Cody awoke to the feeling of something heavy on his stomach. It felt like someone was using him as a trampoline. He mumbled some incoherent groans before opening his eyes to discover he was mostly right. Zack was sitting on his stomach with a goofy grin on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Good morning to you too sunshine." Cody glanced at the clock, noticing it was 7 in the morning and Zack was fully dressed and ready to go. This was too early even for the younger twin. He wanted at least some relaxation during their break, and he was sure Zack felt the same.

"Get_ off_ me," he said, pushing Zack away, which inadvertently caused him to land on the younger twin's hard-on and made him cry out in pain. Irritated, he pushed his brother the rest of the way off his bed.

"Wow, I never thought you'd be _that_ excited to see me," the older twin replied sarcastically.

Cody just shook his head. He knew that the annoying morning woods were caused by the fact that he had been having a dream, and that they didn't mean anything sexual. But that fact didn't make them any less awkward to wake up to (or less painful to have Zack land on).

"So, what are you doing up this early anyway?"

"Well, I did some thinking last night," Zack said, grabbing his baseball cap off the bookshelf near his head. "I don't want us to become all depressed because of something like this. I saw the look you and Mom had on your faces yesterday. You both think I'm going to die, don't you?"

Cody sighed. Truth be told, when they found out it was cancer, that was the first thing that jumped to his mind. Zack could just as well have been told he was going to walk death row. "Well, we don't know enough about it to jump to conclusions."

"Save it Codes, you can't lie to me about how you feel. I did some research on your laptop while you and mom were sleeping to see what I could learn about the tumor. It said that they can remain undetected for a long time, and that memory loss was a pretty severe symptom. I thought, I could just lay in bed all sad-like, but that's not my style. Leave all the sadness and the crying for when I'm gone. I'm still alive right now, so I'm going to make the most of it while I have the chance."

Cody couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought Zack would be complaining about why this was happening to him, begging to know how this was fair, but his attitude was completely different. He knew his brother had a point though. He might not have much time left, so he had to do something while he still could. "So where are you off to?" Cody asked as he saw his brother grab his skateboard.

"I'm off to the skate park, then I promised Neal I'd meet him this afternoon to help him with basket ball practice."

"Wow, you have a busy day planned."

"Yep, before the torture of school takes me away, I'm going to have the funnest spring break in the history of spring breaks. See ya later, Codes," Zack said, leaving the room.

Cody couldn't believe the change that had come over Zack. It was still dark out and Zack had already left. He couldn't help but smile at this. Zack was always the one to find the fun in life, and some things never changed. It wasn't like Zack to let some brain tumor slow him down.

The younger twin climbed out of bed, deciding he couldn't let the day go to waste either. He grabbed his laptop, changed his password so Zack couldn't break into it again, and then quickly got to work.

…

Zack stared at the dark horizon overlooking the half pipe he stood upon. It was still dark outside, and as such, the skate park hadn't opened yet, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting in. A faint light lit up the Boston skyline, a breathtaking site that Zack had always been too busy (or too sleepy) to experience.

He set his board over the edge, placed his foot on the end and let gravity do the rest. He rocketed toward the ground, a smile spreading across his face as he felt the new day's air rush though his hair. Once reaching the other side, he let his inertia propel him into the sky until he hovered there, weightless for a brief second. He wasn't doing this for fame or to break a record, but instead just for fun.

As he was rising in the air the sun was rising behind him, bathing him in the light of the new day.

"Hello world, Zack Martin is still here!" he shouted loud enough so that everyone could hear.


	7. Ch 7: First Day of the Rest of Your Life

_'How far are you willing to go in order to discover the pitfalls of life? How far can the heart stretch before it gets ripped to shreds?_

_The key is to venture forth…_

_Because everyday is the beginning of the end of what we know to be true…'_

**The Martin Triplets by Morbid Maestro, chapter 6.**

**Chapter 7: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life**

'_Do you believe, in the day that you were born__  
__Tell me do you believe?__  
__Do you know, that everyday's the first of the rest of your life'__  
_

Seconds faded into minuets faded into hours for the older twin as he savored every gust of wind that blew through his hair while he raced through the park. The sunlight rose through the hours, warming up the once chilly skate park, encouraging Zack to push himself as hard as he could on the ramps. A part of him told him he should be careful and not hurt himself, but he felt better than he had in a long time, so he wasn't going to waste this opportunity. He knew that it could be short lived so he'd just make the most of it while he could.

As he skated off the half pipe, he noticed three brothers off to the side. Two of them seemed to be nearly identical, both with the same blond hair, likely twins, and the other seemed to be the same age, but had black hair instead. Zack saw some similarity between the twins and he and Cody, especially as the one was trying to teach the black haired boy how to skate, and then fell off the board. Still, he could tell they were having fun, no matter how challenging this was. "Come on Justin, you can do it," the one on the ground said, too consumed with the joy of experiencing this great day to care about his failures.

Zack smiled at this.

He thought about going over to them, see if he could help them get the hang of skating, but he saw the other twin seemed to have that covered. He also felt his phone vibrating and saw that he was late for meeting Neal at the rec-center. He'd have to hurry to get there in time, but with his trusty skateboard, he didn't see that being a problem. In fact, it would be fun.

…

Cody closed his laptop, exhausted at the work he had just done. It had taken several hours, but he knew it would be worth it. Zack was right, this had to be the greatest spring break ever, and he was going to make sure of that. Fortunately, everything was happening at just the perfect time for that to happen.

"Have you seen Zack?" Carey asked as she looked into her sons' room.

"I think he said he was going to the skate park a couple hours ago, then he was going to meet that kid Neal later on."

"You think he'll be okay?" Carey asked worriedly.

"I don't see why not. It's Zack, after all; he won't let something like this stop him. He'll know to call us if anything goes wrong."

"I guess so." Over the past few years, Carey had tried to become less controlling of her sons and let them have fun without fretting about where they were every second of the day, but it was hard letting her babies go.

They were becoming young men though, and she couldn't hold onto them forever, no matter how much she wanted to protect them from the harsh world. "How are you doing, honey?"

"As well as can be expected, I guess," Cody said, leaning against the wall behind his bed. "How long until you think we'll get the results?" The fact that Zack could die was bad enough, but the worst part was not being sure. Cody still held onto some hope that everything could go back to normal, but at the same time, he had to remind himself of the fact that very soon he could be an only child. He felt that if he knew what was coming then maybe he could prepare for it.

"Well, they said it should take a couple days. Want me to fix something for breakfast?" she offered, wanting to do something to see her younger son smile again.

He replied with a look that seemed to say 'Are you serious?'

"By that I mean take something out of the freezer and microwave it."

"Sounds good"

…

The Boston community center was surprisingly empty for spring break, but this wasn't a problem for Zack and Neal. They had the entire court to themselves, which would leave them plenty of room to practice.

"I can't believe you actually came," the younger boy said excitingly.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know, I just thought that you'd be one of those jocks who thought they were too good to help others."

"Yeah, unfortunately many of our players think that way, but you just have to remember that any talent we have is because of what our coaches and friends taught us. Enough boring talk though, show me what you got." Zack bounced the ball to Neal. "Try a layup."

"Okay." Neal nodded and ran up to the basket, pushing the ball up and bouncing it off the backboard before it swooshed through the net.

"Nice, now try a couple free throws."

Neal walked up to the line and bounced the ball a couple times, trying to get everything lined up perfectly. He shot once but it arced to the right and fell to the ground.

"Try again," Zack instructed, getting a hold of it and tossing it back to the other teen.

"Okay." This time the ball flew through the air, hit the rim, but still didn't go in. "I'm normally better at this," Neal said, not wanting to humiliate himself in front of his new friend and coach.

"I think I might see the problem," Zack said, walking up to his student. "You are trying to fire it with both hands instead of just one. That makes it harder to control."

"So you want me to do it with just one hand then?"

"Yeah, you use your right hand to propel it forward and the other just for control." Zack showed him by positioning his hands around the ball and then shooting it up, effortlessly sending it through the net.

"Like this?" Neal asked as he tried imitating Zack.

"Yeah, that's it."

With Zack's encouragement, Neal took aim once again. However, this time it flew far to the left. "This isn't working," Neal said with a sigh.

"It's hard when you change the way you're used to shooting. Keep practicing though and you'll see it works."

"Okay."

Neal kept shooting free throws using Zack's technique until he learned how to control it properly. Part of him wanted to give up and just stick to his own technique, being so conditioned with it. But he trusted Zack to know best. And sure enough, after about twenty minutes, he finally started sinking more baskets than me missed.

"See, that's how you do it. Practice makes perfect." Zack felt a sense of pride building up in him, seeing how he made a difference with Neal. It was one thing to get better himself, but another thing to see how his wisdom had been able impact someone else. Even so, it was tiring just standing back and watching. "Well, since I suck at coaching and I'm feeling bored, let's play a little one-on-one. That way, I can see how good you are when you actually play."

"Works for me," Neal said, excited to be challenged by the star of the high school basketball team. He was a bit nervous, certain that he couldn't keep up, but that wasn't going to keep him from taking advantage of an opportunity like this. Just scoring once against Zack would be enough.

"You inbound it, and try to get past me," the coach said, passing the ball to his student. He was curious to see how hard Neal could push him.

Neal rushed down court, wondering how Zack would react. The older twin seemed to be holding his position at the top of the key, not running after him. Neal would be open to take a shot from range nearly unguarded, but as he'd shown earlier, he had little control over free-throws, and it got worse as he went further out. If he could get close to the hoop, he'd have a better shot, but he was sure Zack wasn't going to let that be easy. Neal ran at Zack, cutting to his right; however, the elder twin was right on him. With a quick swipe of Zack's hand, the ball went flying out of Neal's control and rolled down the court. Using his superior speed, Zack easily got to the ball first, putting Neal on the defensive.

"My turn," Zack said with a grin. Neal took a defensive position, not knowing how he could stop someone bigger, faster, and stronger than him, but he had to try. Zack charged down court, but the younger teen held his ground, putting forth his best effort to not let Zack win. Zack wasn't going to just let a kid beat him, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen out of pity. He moved the ball forward, causing Neal to follow it, before spinning and flying by Neal's back and rushing up to the hoop for an easy score.

"Not bad," Zack said the proud of himself from scoring, but also remembering he was here to teach, not show off. "Do you see what you did wrong?"

"Lost the ball and let you score?" Neal said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Zack couldn't help but see his younger self in his student. He could tell Neal wanted to learn, but at the same time his pride didn't want correcting. "Well, that was part of it, but one thing you need to work on is controlling the ball. Keep it low to the ground and close to your body so it's harder to swat away, and if they do try it, they could hit you instead which would be a foul. The other mistake you made was defending against me; you were too eager to follow me, which made it easy to catch you off guard and get around. Keep an eye on your opponent's middle when playing. Their feet and arms can mislead you, but if you ignore them, they can't get past you."

"Okay, let's try that again." Neal knew he couldn't just give up after one play; he had to stay at this if he was to improve. He came down court again, making sure to keep the ball close to him so Zack couldn't hit it away like he had the first time. He tried spinning by Zack, but his coach was ready for that and stayed with his student. He tried faking Zack out to get past him, but nothing seemed to work. "You're good," Neal admitted.

"Would you expect anything less?"

"I guess I have to get more creative then," Neal said with a smirk as he bounced the ball between Zack's legs, to the surprise of the older twin. Neal ran after the ball, using Zack's shock to get ahead, and made it all the way to the basket, ready to score. However, he didn't see Zack coming at him, and just as he shot, the older twin jumped and slammed the ball back to the ground.

"Nice trick," Zack said, thinking about how he'd liked using it himself. He couldn't believe that it actually worked on him, but the fact that Neal could pull it off showed he had the skill to be a great player.

Zack grabbed the ball, and tested Neal to see if the same trick would work on him again. But the student had learned from his error and wouldn't let Zack past him no matter how many fakes he tried. That wouldn't be enough to stop Zack though, who back-pedaled and jumped into the air, releasing the ball. Neal could only stand in awe as the ball soared through the air and landed perfectly in the net.

"Now you're just showing off."

"I won't deny it." This caused both of them to laugh for a moment. It was true, Zack liked showing off his talent, even when he was supposed to be helping his new friend. "Try boxing me out again," Zack instructed once he picked up the ball from the corner of the gym.

"I won't let you beat me again," Neal said. He knew Zack was out of his league, but that made the challenge even better. If he was going to reach his dream of playing in the NBA, he had to get used to impossible challenges, and beating them anyway.

Zack charged at his student again, but Neal wouldn't yield. He kept Zack at bay as he tried hurtling past him; however, Zack found an opening by rapidly revolving past him. Neal could only sigh in defeat as his coach ran up to the basket for yet another easy layup.

But this time, once Zack jumped to make the basket, he missed and fell to the ground, his legs unable to hold him up.

"Zack, are you okay!" Neal screamed, running over to check on him. He thought of what could have caused Zack to fall like that. Had he twisted his ankle? He remembered when his friend Leon broke his leg coming down wrong after a shot, and feared that could have happened to Zack.

Zack tried getting back to his feet, but his arms and legs were unresponsive. They began flailing wildly, nearly hitting Neal who was kneeling above. "This can't be," Zack mumbled. "Get my phone out of my front left pocket and speed dial one"

"Um, okay," Neal said, unsure of what was going on, but obeying nonetheless. He pulled out the phone and dialed the number.

Soon, Zack lost consciousness.

…

Cody stared intently at his laptop screen, checking the times and making sure everything would line up perfectly for his schedule. He knew that one mistake could throw everything off, so he had to double-check all the plans. His phone began ringing, snapping him out of his thoughts. Looking at the name on the caller id, he wondered what Zack needed.

"What's up, bro?" he asked.

"This isn't Zack, but he collapsed when we were playing basketball and told me to call you," an anxious Neal replied.

"Where are you!" Cody asked, jumping up from his chair.

"At the rec center."

"Okay, I'll be there soon. Call the paramedics to come get him."

Cody burst out of the room, grabbing his mom's keys off the counter. With Zack already gone with their car, he'd have to take hers, but figured that since she was currently performing she wouldn't mind. He wouldn't have cared if she did though; he'd do anything to get to Zack.

Upon finally reaching the lobby from inside the elevator, which seemed to slow down repeatedly merely to frustrate him, he sprinted to the parking garage, ignoring the calls from the guests and Moseby telling him to "stop running in the lobby."

When he got into the car and started up the engine, he floored the gas pedal, ignoring the speed limits as he raced down the road. He was pretty sure he almost hit at least three other cars on the way, swearing at the last moment to dodge them. It felt like he was playing one of those racing video games, where he had to get to the goal in time. Normally he'd never think of driving so recklessly, but this was far from a normal situation. Luckily, it was a short drive and there weren't any police nearby, so he made it to the community center in record time.

After parking the car, grabbing the keys, and bursting out the door, he ran into the basketball courts to see his brother on the ground with Neal right beside him. "Zack!" he shrieked, rushing to his brother. "What happened?"

"He just collapsed when we were playing basketball."

"He shouldn't have been pushing himself so hard," Cody said with a shake of his head.

"What's wrong with him?" Neal asked.

"We're not exactly sure, but there's some kind of abnormal growth in his brain."

"Oh wow, will he be okay?"

"We don't know."

…

**A/N: **And here is this weeks' chapter. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers for my uncle. He went through surgery last Thursday and that went well, and he's going to start radiation this week. Still, it's stage four lung cancer that spread to his brain, so it's really advanced, but there is still hope.


	8. Chapter 8: I Can't See The Sun

**Chapter 8: I Can't See the Sun**

_Don't tell me if I'm dying, cause I don't wanna know__  
__If I can't see the sun, maybe I should go__  
__Don't wake me cause I'm dreaming, of angels on the moon__  
__Where everyone you know, never leaves too soon_

Hours passed.

The hospital waiting room became a home to the two teens, as they waited for any news.

Cody remembered the ride in the ambulance, how they kept asking him as many questions as they could to get an idea of what had happened to Zack. Though, he was in a blur through it all. He wanted to run, to let them handle Zack and fix everything. Then he could pretend everything was all right, or would be soon. Though, he knew he couldn't, so instead tried giving them as much information as possible, and to learn what he could but for all his knowledge all those medical terms went far above anything his mind could comprehend. All he knew was that they were going to try removing some of the tumor to alleviate the pressure. They had wanted to wait until they got more test results back, but if they didn't, Zack could very well die within the day.

So as Zack went into surgery, his friends made themselves as comfortable as they could in the waiting room.

Cody and Neal sat in silence for most of the time, only the occasional word to each other, both asking the same questions no one had an answer too.

Some time passed and Carey joined them too, after getting the call from the hospital, and found herself just as sullen and lost as the two teens. She asked the nurse for information about her son, though her professional plea for hope was met with the limitations of modern medicine, so, she too waited in silence.

More hours passed.

It was now about six o'clock and Zack was still in surgery. Apparently there had been some complications with the Tylenol Zack had taken for his headaches causing his blood to be too thin to do surgery, so they had to counteract the blood-thinner before operating. The doctors knew they didn't have much time if they wanted to save Zack, so they had to operate long before his body was ready, knowing it was risky, but also knew doing nothing would be fatal for the teen.

Tired of the useless waiting, Carey decided to go to the cafeteria to get Cody and Neal something to eat, leaving the two alone once again.

There was only so much a mother could take. She hated how all her power to protect her son was ripped from her. She wanted to run into the operating room, take charge of the doctors, and cure her son herself. Though now, her power was reduced to taking care of her healthy son and his friend; and at that, she cried, though waited until no one else was around.

"You doing okay?" Cody asked once Carey was gone, the silence killing him.

"Yeah," Neal said softly. He looked down the hall, waiting for some doctor or nurse or someone to come out with any news about Zack. For a second he hoped he'd see Zack bursting out of some door and running and doing cartwheels to greet them. Then he'd laugh at them for being so worried. Yeah, Neal knew it was impossible, but a kid could hope.

"You want to try calling your mom to come take you home?"

"Nah, she's still at work."

"Oh okay." Neal had said the same thing hours earlier, that his mom was working so there wasn't anyone that could come get him. Cody was going to ask about his dad, but guessed this kid didn't have one, and figured that was something Neal would rather not talk about, especially at a time like this.

"That's okay though; I'd rather stay here and wait for Zack."

"You sure, this must be boring for you." It was for Cody too, but he was too focused on Zack to think that. "After dinner, I'll take you back if you want."

"Nah, I don't want to make you leave when Zack gets out of there." Neal didn't want to leave himself either. It seemed strange, he had only known Zack a couple of days, but he wanted to be here. Partly out of fascination for the man that was willing to help a kid like him, partly out of concern for his hero. He still couldn't wrap his mind around someone as strong as Zack falling so fast, becoming so helpless. Now, he was merely at the mercy of the medical skills of the doctors.

"Okay, but don't hesitative to ask if you want to leave." Cody really felt bad for dragging this kid with him through the ambulance ride here, and then through those medicinal questions as they prepped Zack for surgery, and then the exhausting wait. He was kind of glad that he didn't have to leave Zack though, and it was nice having someone with him. He knew he wasn't of any help just sitting here and waiting, but he wanted to be close.

Carey came back with a couple cheeseburgers from the hospital's cafeteria. It wasn't the greatest thing they had ever eaten, but it was food, so they were content. It kept their stomachs from bothering them at least. While the boys were eating though, Carey excused herself saying she wanted to go for a walk. Cody and Neal didn't think anything of it, and continued eating.

"How much longer do you think it will be?" Neal asked once their trash was neatly gathered and thrown away. Any other time, he would have commented about Cody's obsession with neatness and cleanliness, but knew now was not the time.

The twin looked down at his watch, wondering the same thing too. The doctors said it would take a few hours but that was a few hours ago, so he had no idea. He leaned his head back in the chair, trying to alleviate the ache in his body from sitting still for so long. "Not much longer I hope."

"Me too."

Neal got up, his anxiousness not letting him stay in one place any longer. He wanted to do something, anything, even just move around. He walked out of the waiting room, the artificial lights and boring floor patterns suffocating him.

Cody got up to follow him, not wanting Neal to get lost in a place like this. Granted, he didn't know this place any better, but he still felt responsible for the kid.

They walked mindlessly, the exercise fighting off some of the tiredness the hospital seemed to throw at them. Neal hated the feeling of hospitals. He despised how they just seemed to suck the life away. It was always filled with people sad and tired and sick. He wanted to run through the halls, to shout and scream, to breathe some life in this depressing building.

But that would be rude and inconsiderate and probably a bad idea. They reached a window that was supposed to shine some light into the building, but instead clouds hung overhead, threatening rain, but so far, the window seemed dry.

"Wow, it seemed to be really nice earlier," Cody said.

"Yeah, a perfect day, but now I can't even see the sun."

This just made Neal even more depressed. It was supposed to be a perfect day. He had gotten up early, glad that his mom was gone so he didn't have to deal with her, and he had made sure everything was perfect for his practice with Zack. He made sure his favorite basketball was perfectly inflated, he wore the shoes that weren't going to fall apart, and he put on his lucky pink boxers (that he would say he wore only because they were the only clean ones he could find). He even had a healthy breakfast that wasn't just ice-cream. Then he left the house early, glad to get away before his sister could wake up and bug him.

Then things kept getting better. Zack actually showed up, he learned a few things about his favorite sport, and almost scored against his hero. True, he didn't stand a chance, but he loved the challenge that it offered him. It was fun, hard and frustrating at times, but still fun.

But then it all changed. The day went from one of his best to one of his worst.

"Let's head back," Cody said, an ounce of hope in him that they would return to good news. And so they walked back, the nurse on duty shaking her head gently as they gazed to her, hope once again fading from the dark and dreary waiting room.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for missing last week's update. I decided to completely rewrite chapters 8 and 9 to improve the story, and I think it helped. Thanks for the reviews everyone, this story has been a challenge to me, but I like how it's turning out.


	9. Chapter 9: I won't surrender

'_And I'll fight it out__  
__'Cause I know I can__  
__And I'll sleep tight__  
__When you're not here__  
__Oh no__  
__I won't surrender'_

**Chapter 9: I won't surrender**

Night fell.

Rain tapped the windows of the hospital, and the waiting room turned into a home for Cody and Neal.

The lights faded as the teens tried sleeping, their energy drained from the day of waiting. Cody was laying on the floor and Neal was resting between two chairs. Their bodies protested the uncomfortable positions, but comfort was far from their minds.

During the day and evening, they kept eyeing every passerby, thinking, that maybe, one could have been the one with news. Though, after a while, weary of always being let down, they ignored the doctors and nurses going about their job.

They had not given up hope, no not by a long shot, but instead, let it drift. They believed that Zack would be fine, they refused to believe anything else. But after countless hours lumbered by, each more excruciating that the last, the teens needed a break from the disappointment.

And so, thinking, praying, that perhaps the morning would bring better news, they slept, ignorant of the doctor entering the waiting room looking for them.

The doctor wondered if it would be right to wake them. They needed to hear the news, though, after the day the whole family had faced, he wanted to let them sleep, sure that if he told them now, they would be no way they could rest so easily.

…

Carey stood in the parking garage, watching the gentle rain coat the city below her, a cigarette held between her fingers. She blew the smoke into the showers.

She hated cigarettes, they tasted horrible, the smell caused her to choke, and she knew how bad it was for her. She told her kids if she ever caught them smoking she'd kill them.

That's why she quit those many years ago.

But times like this, she needed the relief they brought her, the calming of her all too frayed nerves.

She stared out in front of her, and sighed deeply, knowing she had been out here far too long.

But, as much as she wanted to go back in and check on Zack, a part of her told her to stay away. She didn't want to face what could be coming.

She remembered when her dad died those many years ago.

How it was a bright sunny Sunday.

How he had taken her and her sister to see a movie.

How he took them shopping.

(How much she hated her sister for picking both the places.)

Most of all, just how much fun she had that day.

And then, the ride to the hospital.

The rushed doctors.

The news of a burst appendix.

And not much later, the news of his death.

Since that day, she hated hospitals, never daring to set foot in one again, knowing they'd only bring her bad news.

The day of her twins' birth, the only exception.

Once again though, her sons brought her here, and as strong as she tried to be, she knew she might be going back home with only one son.

And that thought terrified her.

…

In the darkened room, the twin shook, his brain heavy and unable to think. His memories jumbled, he did not know where was, and this terrified him. He begged to see, though his eyes would not open.

He tried screaming, but like his eyes, his mouth would not answer him.

Lost and confused, he drifted, into the realm of his mind. Standing, bewildered at the chains around him, he took in the sights of darkness, its suffocating blanket chocking him. It filled him, drowning out his will. And so, content to stay in this prison, he rested.

Voices rang out in the dark, reawakening his soul to the world he loved. They were soft at first, less than a whisper, but he craved more. He fought against the blanket, not wanting it to muffle the beautiful noise anymore.

The voices began ringing out louder, and he could hear a thousand words, cradling him, and relieving the pain he didn't know he felt. And then he saw it, Beyond the clouds that held him back, it was there, the hope he needed, the drive he craved.

A flash of light in the distance.

He smiled, seeing something to run to. It was faint and far away, and perhaps a trick of the shadows, but it was still there, a beacon of hope.

And so, driven by the voices of those he loved, he placed his feet firmly on the ground. Taking in the breath of his world, he ran, resisting the chains that held him back. Wind blowing through his hair pushed him forward. He was close.

Though the darkness held him just when he could touch the light.

He wasn't about to let it win though. No, he had to get back to the light, that's where everything he loved was. No matter how strong it was, how hopeless he felt, he wouldn't surrender.

Breaking awake from the darkness and leaping to the light, he awoke with a gasp sitting up and throwing the sheets away, his eyes opening to the world he did not know.

Soon a roaring headache made itself known, causing him to lay back down.

He considered closing his eyes again, to rest the pain away. But he didn't. Afraid if he did, they wouldn't open again.

Instead, he embraced the pain, allowing it to keep him awake and so he could find out where he was. The first thing he noticed was the needle sticking in his arm and the tube going from it to the strange machine beside his bed. He then looked to his surroundings, and saw that he was not in his own bed, but instead, one that looked like those hospital beds.

So, he was in the hospital.

Why though?

He tried harnessing his most recent memories. There was the morning at the skate-park, the day at the beach, finding out he had a tumor, practicing with Neal. All those memories were jumbled together, as he tried finding the most recent.

As he thought though, the pain in his head grew worse, so he brought his hand to it, trying to calm the inferno beneath the skin. This caused him to notice the cloth around it, and explained why his head felt so sweaty. So, he was in the hospital, because of something happened to his head. Maybe something involving the tumor.

He swallowed hard.

He remembered it was advanced, but how bad was it? Would he ever be able to leave this hospital? Glancing at the darkened room, he decided he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. He knew there were some people who once entered the hospital never left it.

He wasn't going to be one of those people though. This was just a stage of his life, the hospital would patch him up, and he'd be back on his feet in no time.

Or, so he hoped.


	10. Chapter 10: Back on My Feet

'_And you know the pain  
That brought you here today__  
__So what can you do__  
__And you know the tears__  
__For losing those you love__  
__When yesterday is gone__  
__So please remember__  
__Not to waste another day__  
__Not to worry your mind__  
__And please forgive me__  
__For taking so much time__  
__To get back on my feet_'

**Chapter 10: Back on My Feet**

Neal stirred as he heard the faint sound of voices echoing through the room, the soft noises causing him to roll over, his mind unable to fathom whom these people could be or why his bed felt so strange. He didn't worry about it though, too tired to care, his body just enjoying the near silence around him.

"Zack," he heard a soft voice mumble, and at once, Neal was fully brought back to reality. He sat up, now noticing he was positioned between two chairs, explaining why his back was starting to hurt. He looked beside him, seeing Cody on the floor, his blanket tossed mostly to the side, mumbling something incomprehensible with his face buried in his pillow.

Neal wanted to go back to sleep too, but knew he couldn't. He was too nervous, and now noticed his body covered in sweat from the suffocating blanket that was placed over him. He threw it to the side, and carefully got out of his makeshift bed, making sure not to wake Cody up.

In the near darkness, he saw Carey at the other end of the room, reminding him of his own mom after passing out in her chair after too long of a shift and too many drinks. The exhausted look on her face, and the way she was positioned, that appeared far from comfortable, reminded him so much of his own family. All he needed was a TV playing in the background and it would have been just like home.

He thought about his home as he made his way out of the waiting room. He wondered if he should have called to tell his mom where he'd be, though, it wouldn't have surprised him much if she didn't notice. She might be curious for a while, and maybe Katherine would say something, but his mom would be too tired to care, especially after popping a couple beers. He might be missed, though, if he needed to babysit his little sister. He just shrugged it off. Dustin was taking a truck to California, so he wouldn't be back for a week, meaning Neal wouldn't be asked to take care of his sister anytime soon.

As Neal smiled about Dustin being gone, he found his way to the nurses' station, not even remembering the walk down the hallways. Part of him wanted to wait until the others were awake to ask about Zack, but his curiosity was too strong, and he didn't want to wake them, thinking that would be rude. But, now that he was here, he wanted to run back, not feeling right being here when Zack's mother and brother deserved to know more than him.

"Can I help you?" the nurse asked, placing some complicated papers in various folders.

"Um, is there any news on Zack Martin?" Neal asked before he could stop himself.

"One second, let me check."

A couple seconds that felt like a year passed as Neal watched the nurse's nimble hands dance across the keyboard. After a couple skillful clicks of her mouse, she told Neal, "It looks like he was moved to room 143 which is just down the hall."

"So he made it out of surgery?" Neal asked, the news driving away any thoughts of sleep or being tired.

"Yes, and it appears he woke up about 3 hours ago," the nurse answered professionally.

"Wow, so he's okay?"

"It is too early to make such claim, though it appears he is recovering. You are welcome to visit him if you wish, although I ask that you please stay quiet as there are many other patients currently sleeping." The nurse gave a polite smile along with a small nod, and with that, Neal sprinted off.

'_Zack's awake, he's gonna be alright,' he_ thought as he rounded a corner, nearly running into a food cart, stopping just in time to jump to the side. He wasted no time on an apology though, continuing just as quickly as he scanned the room numbers. _'135, 136, 137'_

He was close, his steps growing faster with each passing step. His heart began pounding as he darted into the room, his eyes not believing the sight in front of him.

There Zack was, in bed, hooked up to an IV and other medical machines that Neal didn't dare try figuring out. His hero lay there, his hair gone, a massive bandage covering much of the top of his head. He couldn't believe it, how beaten Zack looked. Heroes weren't supposed to be hurt like this.

"Zack…" Neal slowly said, his mind telling him he had to go deliver the news to Zack's family, that he had no right to be here first. And…part of him wanted to forget he ever saw Zack like this.

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Zack said, waving Neal over to his bed with his arm, which wasn't connecting to various tubes and instruments. His voice was steady, weak, but still there.

"Okay I guess. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts like hell and I just want to get out of this place," Zack said, closing his eyes, trying to get rid of some of the pain.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Unless you have a twenty pound aspirin with you, probably not," Zack tried sitting up again, so he could at least see his guest. His head was killing him, but maybe, talking to someone would help get rid of some of the pain.

"Sorry, can't help you there." Neal wasn't sure what to say to someone in this much pain. Anytime someone in his family was sick or in pain, he just stayed out of the way the best he could, letting the more experienced people handle whatever was going on, and maybe go to get whatever they asked him too.

"Figured. Hey Neal?"

"Yeah?"

"So you like pink boxers?"

Neal looked down, suddenly realizing he hadn't gotten dressed when he got up, so was only clothed in his white undershirt and lucky pink boxers. His face turned as red as his underwear as he tried backing up, and he pulled his t-shirt down to cover the pink. He couldn't believe he'd humiliated himself like this in front of Zack.

"I…um…I."

Zack started laughing, and then restrained himself, not wanting to hurt himself, or further embarrass Neal. "I think they put the clothes I was wearing when I got here in that closet if you want to take them."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, until they let me out of this hospital gown, I don't need them."

Finally starting to laugh at himself, Neal opened the closet and put on Zack's shorts, despite the fact they were about 3 sizes too big for him. Still, they were better than nothing. "Thanks Zack."

Neal then realized that Cody and Carey really needed to know that Zack was awake too. He felt kind of bad that he had nearly forgotten about them. Plus, when he got back to the waiting room, he could put his own clothes back on. He couldn't believe he walked, no ran, through the hospital like that. And, he decided he could only laugh, knowing embarrassment wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Your mom and brother are out there waiting for you, I'll go get them."

…

As Cody and Carey stepped into the hospital room, she was terrified of what she would see. She knew Neal had told her that Zack was awake and alive, but the thought of her baby being put through surgery like that caused her to tremble. But she had to be strong, be confident, and be anything but the nervous wreck she was inside. For Cody and Neal, and most of all, Zack.

"Hey Mom, can you go get me a double scoop chocolate brownie sundae?" he asked when he saw her walk into the room.

Carey smiled, despite herself, and she gazed upon the wounded figure of her son. It wasn't as bad as she had feared, he still looked right, his color was a little bit off, and she couldn't stop staring at the bandages around his head, but it could have been far worse. "Once you get out of here, I'll get you whatever you want."

"Oh in that case I'll take an Italian Sports car, a convertible, filled with hot-"

"Within reason of course."

Zack sighed in defeat.

"How are you feeling Zack?" Cody nervously asked as he walked up beside Zack's bed.

"Like I'm a prisoner in a room filled with boring walls and smelly food. I swear the food here makes Mom's cooking seem like Chef Palo's."

"I'm right here you know."

"Yeah I know."

Neal looked on from the doorway, hearing the family laugh and just enjoying being together. He thought about joining the group, but knew it wasn't his place. They were a family and he was just an extra person thrown along for the ride. He wondered if he should see if he could get a ride home now. Zack was awake, and he was sure if he asked, Cody would tell him if anything else happened. What purpose did he have here anymore?

"Hey," Carey said, placing her arm around Neal's shoulders. He hadn't even noticed her leaving Zack's side. "Come with me."

He followed her as she walked down the hall, wondering if she was going to blame him for what happened to Zack. It wouldn't surprise him any; if he hadn't been playing basketball with Zack, he wouldn't have collapsed and wouldn't have wound up in the hospital.

It was almost a moment before Carey finally spoke. "Thanks for staying with us through this mess."

She wasn't berating him…she was thanking him? "I haven't really done anything."

"You've stayed with Cody. I'm sure you'd much rather be at home with your family."

Neal wanted to say 'Not really' but decided against it. "I really wanted to see if Zack would be okay, so I didn't mind."

"Well, it means a lot that he has a friend like you. And I know Cody was glad he wasn't alone through the night. It may not look like it, but I think you helped Cody keep his emotions in check through this."

"Thanks, but I still don't know what I did," Neal said looking toward the ground, not wanting to face all this undeserved praise.

"You'd be surprised how much little things like that can do."

…

With Carey leaving the room to head to the bathroom, Cody finally had some alone time with his brother so he sat on the bed, careful not to smash any of the tubes or wires.

"Your head bothering you?" Cody asked softly.

"Yeah, I know they've given me as much medication as they can, but it feels like my head is going to explode."

"Hopefully it will start getting better soon."

"I'll say."

Cody looked to his brother, seeing the anxiousness filling Zack's eyes. He knew that Zack hated being cooped up like this, he wanted to get up from this bed and do something. And this gave Cody hope. Hope that this wasn't the end for his brother. Zack was ready to get better.

"You know what scares me the most Cody?"

"Dying?" Cody logically guessed.

"No, being forced to live in here forever," Zack said with a distant gaze, looking out at the world beyond just the walls in front of him. "I'm okay with dying. I mean we all have to die sometime, some just earlier than others. But, I want to live while I'm still here, not just lie in the hospital all day. You know?"

"We'll get you out of here soon." Cody knew Zack had a strong will to live, he was the one to always enjoy the little things in life, and he would get out of here, even if it killed him to do so. He wasn't one to just sit around and wait for long.

"You remember our friend Greg back in middle school, and how his uncle died from cancer?" Zack asked.

Cody thought back, and did remember Greg. Though, he was more Zack's friend than his, so he didn't recall his uncle dying. Still, he decided to just go with it. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, I went with Greg to see his uncle a few days before he died. He was just lying there in a hospital bed, sleeping most of the time, and even when he woke up, he hardly did anything. He could hardly eat, he couldn't talk, heck, his sister had to nearly force food down his throat."

"You think that might happen to you?"

"Yeah, it scares the shit out of me. It's like he was a zombie Cody. What point is there living like that?"

"Mr. Martin," a nurse said walking into the room before Cody could answer.

"Yes?" the twins answered in unison.

The nurse looked to the two twins, back at her clipboard, and then back at the twins. "Zack Martin?"

"That's me. So how long until I get out of here?"

"We're still examining results of the scans we took after the surgery, so we can't say for certain."

"Did you find out anything?" Cody asked.

"Well, we took out most of the brain tumor, though sadly we were unable to remove all of it. We also discovered the cancer has started to spread to other parts of Zack's body, including his lungs and spine." The nurse's kind professionalism did little to stop the news from devastating the twins. It was bad enough to just have the cancer in the brain, but the fact that it had spread so rapidly would mean Zack would have a much harder time recovering.

"Is there anything we can do for him?" Cody asked.

"Do to the extent of the spreading, surgery will be impractical and radiation would be difficult. The only remaining option is chemotherapy."

"When does it start?" Zack asked, not willing to let the tragic news sink in. He'd heard the stories about what chemotherapy did to people. But, perhaps there was a chance that he wouldn't be one of those. And if there were a chance like that, he'd take it. The odds didn't matter, as long as there was a possibility, he'd take it.

"In order to give your body time to recover from this surgery, we should wait a couple weeks, but no more than that."

"Let's do it then," Zack said, a smile across his face, a strange excitement of the coming danger. He knew it would be hard, but the sooner he got it over with, the sooner he could return to life as normal.

The nurse left the room, going to tend to her other duties now that she was sure Zack was okay.

"Cody?"

"Yeah?"

"There's one other thing that's been bugging me about being here."

"What is it?"

"I want to walk, to prove I won't be confined here forever."

"You can't Zack," Cody said, though had a feeling it would be far harder to convince Zack of that than a few simple words.

"Yes I can," he said resolutely as he took a steady breath, trying to will away the throbbing pain in his head. He knew it might be the drugs talking, but he knew he could walk. It didn't matter that his body was in such a mess, he didn't care, and he wouldn't let that stop him. He would walk, even if it was just a single step. "Just help me Cody." Zack gazed up at Cody; powerlessness seeping through his eyes, but his shining will demanded that the impossible be overcome.

Cody knew this was foolish; Zack was in no condition to walk. But, some of Zack's recklessness must have rubbed off because he agreed. He got up from the bed and lowered the side rail. Zack carefully lowered his legs over the side. Moving the cord for his oxygen and IV so it would be out of his way, he carefully sat up, Cody helping him get stable.

"You ready Zack?"

The older brother nodded, his head wanting to explode from the sudden change in elevation. He closed his eyes, focusing his mind on everything but the pain.

Cody let Zack wrap his arm around his shoulder, not going to let Zack fall if he pushed himself too far.

Zack pushed off from the bed, the six-inch drop sending his mind into an array of dizziness and confusion. He could barely see; his legs felt like led and his head demanded he rest.

He refused to listen to them.

Instead, he focused all his will on his right foot.

A flash of lightning lit up the sky behind them.

Lifting it slowly, barely an inch off the ground, Zack moved his foot forward.

A peel of thunder filled the building.

Zack then moved his left foot, completing the step. Though Cody had held him through it, with his own power, he walked.

With that, he surrendered to his helpless state, allowing Cody to lay him back down on the bed.

But, as he drifted off to sleep once more, he did so with a smile. He walked. He would recover. Cancer was strong, but he wouldn't let it beat him so easily.

…

**A/N: **I decided to rewrite this chapter as well, and I have to say, I'm so glad I did. It may have taken longer to post, but I think it's well worth it. Thanks to Woundedhearts and Wyntirsno for betaing.

And on a personal note, my uncle died of cancer today. I never thought that this fictional story would be so close to reality for me. But that drives me to keep going with this, to make it as good as possible, to honor his life. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts everybody


	11. Chapter 11: To All of Us

_"Zack…Are you worried about losing me?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Don't be."_

_"Look…We may die tomorrow or we might live to be a hundred years old. What matters is what we do with our lives and spending time with those that we love," Cody started to lecture, but Zack waved him to silence._

_"Sorry, sorry. I'm sorry I brought it up," Zack apologized._

_"Zack you awake?" Cody whispered._

_"Yeah."_

_"I'm never going to die."_

**In This Memory by Kulmanari, Brothers Forever**

**Chapter 11: To All of Us**

_This is to one last day in the shadows  
And to know a brother's love  
This is to New York City angels  
And the rivers of our blood  
This is to all of us, to all of us _

_Angels on the Moon, Thriving Ivory_

Cody held the umbrella as the grey clouds stole the light from what should have been a beautiful day. The color, like the celebration, gone from the day he always loved. He never thought he'd be brought to tears on the anniversary of the day he and his brother were brought into the world.

Forward he stepped, his face cold with indifference, knowing that if he thought about the box ahead of him, his composure would fall apart.

But love beckoned him, curiosity called him, to the face he knew so well.

And he saw it, cold, lifeless, a skin which covered bones he did not know. Sure, though physically it was one he saw every day, but with life gone, it was just an empty vessel.

Then, before he could say a word, the casket closed, and a life was forgotten. Lowered into the ground, and all was but a memory.

The people went on, forgetting the life that no longer was.

Soon he was alone, the patch of dirt the same as all the others. He screamed for someone to remember, but no one did. No one heard him, but even if they did, no one would care.

He opened his mouth to say the name, though only silence came out.

He shot up screaming, his blankets thrown off as his mind took in the darkness of his room.

"Cody?" Zack called from the other side of the room.

"Zack, you're still alive," he said in a deadpan tone. His breaths strained, but filled with relief.

Cody looked through the darkness and saw Zack sitting up.

"Yeah, you were loud enough to wake the dead." Zack rubbed his head, trying to sort out the dream he just had involving marshmallows and penguins. Though, hearing his brother like that, he decided that he should probably forget about it for now.

"Sorry to wake you up like that."

"It's okay. I really wasn't sleeping well, anyway," Zack lied. He knew Cody had been having nightmares since he returned to the hospital. Whenever he woke up, it looked like Cody was tossing in his bed, sometimes talking, and this wasn't the first time a scream had woken Zack up. Although he didn't blame Cody for being scared, Zack was worried too, and he didn't rule out the possibility that he could have less than a day to live.

"You feeling okay, Zack?"

"Not too bad." Since he had started chemotherapy treatment earlier in the week, he found he had trouble keeping food down, frequently throwing up whatever he ate. In fact, this was the first night his stomach hadn't forced him out of bed and to bow to the porcelain throne.

Still, he wouldn't let that stop him from enjoying the foods he loved. He even went so far as to decide that if it was going to leave his body anyway, it couldn't hurt him and he had convinced his mom to let him eat ice cream for dinner. And with his stomach feeling relatively stable now, he decided that was a good choice.

"My stomach feels fine."

"That's good."

"I think my body's starting to adjust."

"You've only had one treatment, so things could still get worse." Ever the realist, despite the hope that he clung to, Cody wasn't going to let himself pretend things would all return to normal. There was no way of knowing what the future held, and these small signs of progress could be just that, a false hope that would fade into disaster.

"Maybe, but I'm really tired now. We should go back to sleep."

"I guess so."

"Besides, we need to be rested for the big day tomorrow."

"Okay, sleep good, Zack."

"You too, Codes."

…

"This is so cool!" Zack exclaimed, taking in the sight of the Yankee's stadium.

He stood upon the top of the stands, looking down at the innumerable seats below him and the finely trimmed lawn where the players would soon be. Since the twins got there an hour early, the stadium was nearly empty, so no one objected to Zack running up and down the stairs like a maniac. They'd only been to a professional baseball game twice in their lives before—once when Moseby took them, where they'd spent at least half the time teaching him how the game worked, and once when their mom had gotten hit on the head by the baseball in the second inning, forcing them to leave early.

"Don't you think we should find our seats?" Cody suggested.

"Come on Cody, this might be the only time I get to see this stadium. I can't experience everything there is here while sitting down," Zack said before running off in a random direction. Cody took off after him, afraid of leaving him alone. Even though Zack seemed to be doing better, they were still terrified that something could happen at any moment.

Still, Cody smiled.

When Cody had first found out about Zack's cancer, he decided he had to do something for his brother, knowing they might not have much time left. And using a bit of his savings, he managed to arrange a trip to New York when the Yankees were playing the Red Sox, along with a few other surprises he thought his brother would enjoy. He knew this might not be good for Zack, but seeing the joy he had right now, he knew it was worth the risk.

…

Carey came back from her show exhausted, but satisfied that the audience had enjoyed her performance. She was glad that she could get her mind off Zack by doing what she loved. Music had been her escape when she was younger. No matter how many times her boyfriends would dump her for her sister, she could lock herself in her room and the music would comfort her. When her dad died, she played that same sad song until the record finally shattered, feeling the words of pain telling her she was not alone.

Now she loved the fact that she could spread the joy of music to others. She remembered one time when a teenage girl came up to her after the show and told her that her songs had helped her get over a bad breakup. She was glad that she could truly help people by doing what she loved.

Upon reaching her room, she flipped the lights on, set her purse down on the kitchen counter, on her way over to the couch to rest. A flashing light on the answering machine caught her attention. Once she pressed the play button, she heard the message she both looked forward to and dreaded.

"Miss Martin, after an analysis of your son we took after the first treatment, we have discovered the cancer has further spread to his liver. We will need to increase the number and strength of the treatments if he is to have any hope of survival. Please give us a call back as soon as possible to schedule an appointment to discuss our options."

Carey's hand jumped to her heart, trying to shield herself from the news. For just a moment, the fear that her son would leave her was gone, but with this news, she felt another piece of her die. Her last strand of hope escaped her. She kept telling herself that maybe Zack would be okay, that the treatment would get rid of the cancer fast and he would go on to live a happy and healthy life. But another piece of the fantasy she built for herself was gone, and she wasn't sure what she would do if the rest of it fell.

She pulled out her cell phone and her finger went to speed-dial Cody. However, her finger refused to hit the number. She didn't want to tell him. Her sons deserved to have fun over the weekend. After all the hard work Cody put into all the plans, she'd hate to ruin everything.

At least that's what she told herself.

In reality though, she didn't want to tell them at all. She felt that perhaps by not telling them, she could protect them from the reality that was all too true. After all, it wouldn't hurt them to not know for a few more days.

…

The twins sat on the edge of their seat in right field. It was the top of the eighth inning and the Red Sox were down 5 to 2. However, thanks to several hits to start the inning, the bases were loaded with only one out.

David Ortiz stepped up to the plate. The Yankees closer, Manny Ramirez, gripped the ball tightly. The age-old showdown between pitcher and batter started once more as the Yankee rocketed a fastball at the catcher. Ortiz watched the ball go by for the first strike.

"A wise decision," Cody commented mostly to himself.

"What are you talking about? He could have blasted it."

"True, but he'll still have more chances. He wanted to see if Ramirez would still be composed in a situation like this. Now he knows what he's up against."

"Only you could dorkify a baseball game."

"Sports are as much mental as physical."

The twins quickly dropped their conversation to watch the pitcher wind up and throw again. Two more pitches and the count was 1-2. No one in the stadium dared to take a breath, afraid that the noise would distract the players. The baseball once again flew from the pitcher's hand and tore through the air. Ortiz gripped the bat and swung; the ball and the bat collided with a resounding boom.

The ball took off like a rocket through the stadium. The audience stood in awe as it soared through the air into deep right field.

"It can't be," Zack said in little more than a whisper as the small white sphere began descending toward him. Instinctively he raised his glove, hoping for just a second that he could actually catch it. He was expecting the wind to blow it away or for it to arc to the side and out of his grasp, but instead the ball descended as if he was the target. He lifted his glove higher and felt the ball effortlessly dive into it.

A heavy silence fell upon the stadium, the Yankee's fans shocked that they lost their lead in a matter of seconds. But soon the rare Red Sox fans let out a mighty roar, none more powerful than the twins sitting in right field.

The game ended without much more excitement. The Red Sox managed to hang on to their narrow lead through the last two innings, giving them a hard fought-for victory. The twins hardly paid attention to the game. Instead, their eyes focused solely on the ball which had yet to leave Zack's glove. Even as the other spectators left, Zack was still lost in a trance. It didn't seem like this could be real; it just had to be a dream that he would soon awaken from.

"You coming, Zack?" Cody asked, standing up from his seat and waiting for his twin to follow him.

"This can't be real," the older twin said softly. "I mean, I've always dreamed of this happening, but to think I'm holding the actual grand slam ball seems surreal."

"I know how you feel," Cody said, walking back to him. "For a while, it felt like the discovery of your tumor made our fun times vanish."

"It doesn't have to be that way, though. As long as I'm alive, I don't plan to stop having fun." Zack looked up at Cody, the first time he took his eyes off the ball in so long. He saw how quickly joy could come, shattering the darkness of despair that now seemed so far away. It wasn't that he forgot the truth, but sometimes, the harshness of reality just needed to be pushed aside. Zack loved the small moments of joy throughout the day, a scowl from Moseby, a glance from a pretty girl, these gave him just a little bit of happiness, and that was enough. Zack got up from his seat, though gripped onto it for a second before looking forward again. "You ready to go?

"We should probably try getting to the car, but with all these people that could be a real challenge," Cody said, not wanting to rush his brother, but he was tired and really wanted to get to bed soon.

"Leave that to me, little brother," Zack placed his arm around Cody with a grin that showed he had an idea.

"Does your plan involve anything illegal, unsafe, or immoral?"

"Not if I do it right!"

"Let's just do it the safe, legal way," Cody said. Zack grabbed for the keys in his brother's hands, but Cody kept moving them out of his reach. He wanted them to have a fun time in New York that didn't involve a meeting with the NYPD.

"Fine," Zack said with a shrug of his shoulders. He knew his plan wouldn't work that well, especially since for it to go perfectly, he'd need a team of navy seals, and they were hard to come by on short notice.

"Do you remember where we parked?" Cody asked once they reached the parking lot.

"Not at all."

So resigning himself to the fact that this was going to take longer than they wanted, they made their way to the parking garage. There were hundreds of cars in sight, and at least thousands of fans trying to make their way through the crowds. Horns honked from every direction, and the smell of alcohol on the breath of a few permeated the stale air. "Is that one it?" Cody asked, seeing a car that appeared to be the right color after they walked up at least four floors.

"Looks like it," Zack replied and started running to it, even if that made him a little dizzy. He rounded the car and flung the passenger side door open, only to realize there was a half clothed couple in the back seat enjoying each other's company far more than Zack wanted to see.

"Wrong car!" Zack yelled, slamming the door and walking away, his face turning a bright shade of red.

"Then where is it?" Cody asked, getting frustrated at how long this was taking. Looking out the parking garage, he realized that the view looked similar to when they left the car earlier. So that meant they had to be close. But were they farther up, or just missed the car?

"I guess we should just keep looking," Zack said, heading up to the next floor.

"This shouldn't take this long though," Cody complained, scanning this floor as well, sure that they'd find it any second. "What if someone stole it? I don't want to be stuck in New York with no way to get back home."

Even as Cody's despair was starting to take hold, Zack wouldn't give up hope. For every place they searched and didn't find it that just meant the chances were getting better. At least he thought Cody mentioned something like that when teaching him about probability.

"Well, can we use that panic button to find it?"

"I could if someone didn't end up dropping it into the sewer."

"Hey, in my defense, she was hot, and how was I supposed to know that duct tape is so flammable?"

"That wouldn't have mattered if you had just done your homework like you should have."

"Why would I do that when I have you?"

Before Cody could respond to that, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a car that looked familiar to him. "There!" he said, forgetting his petty argument with Zack and ran to it with Zack right on his heels. He shoved the key into the lock, turned it, and to his disappointment, it wouldn't open. "Come on," he said, frustration seeping through. He tried to stay calm though. Pulling the key out, he took a breath, and then turned the key around, thinking that it was probably just something simple like that.

However, trying again, he found this didn't work either.

He let out a sigh as he pulled the key out again.

"It just sometimes needs a special little touch," Zack said walking beside Cody and trying to unlock the door. Though like his brother, his efforts were futile.

"Will you look at that Darah, some hooligans are trying to break into our car." The twins turned and saw an elderly man with a cane walking toward them with it raised in the air.

"We didn't mean-"

"Give him one for me Phillip," the man's wife said cheering him on as he swung his cane down. The twins tried getting away, but closed in by the cars and the angry senior, Cody was smacked a few times. Shoving Phillip away, the twins ran by them, but not before Zack felt something crunch beneath his feet.

"Those were my favorite dentures." Zack shuddered, but kept running, glad that neither of the elderly couple was able to run. They kept sprinting for a couple minutes though, not wanting to stick around to see if they'd be pursued.

Finally Zack had to rest, leaning against a car on the other side of the garage and breathed heavily, feeling like his lungs were on fire.

"Zack, do you know what car that is?"

"Unless it's ours, I really don't care."

"It is."

Zack looked at the car, and saw Cody was right. It even had the right license plate, and while Cody successfully unlocked it, Zack bent down and kissed the lid of the trunk, before remembering that it hadn't been cleaned for at least five months.

"Get in you goof."

Zack didn't object, opening up the passenger side door and getting in. "That took _way_ too long," Zack said through a sigh, just glad to rest after all that walking.

"At least there is less traffic now." Cody tried to reason, looking on the bright side.

Zack, it seemed, would have none of it. "Yeah, but I'm hungry, my feet hurt, and I'm pretty sure I still have part of that dude's dentures stuck in my shoe."

"I did not need to know that," Cody said with a mix of disgust and slight amusement. "Well, we can get a bite to eat when we get back to the hotel."

"Yeah, but that's several hours away." Zack's stomach growled loudly in complaint.

"I don't mean the hotel in Boston; I told you I had a fun weekend planned, didn't I?"

"What else are we doing?" Zack asked, his curiosity rising once again. On the way to the game, he kept asking about Cody's plans, but the younger twin wouldn't tell.

"Well, we're stopping at the New York Tipton for the night. I was able to talk to Moseby and he got us a room for free. The rest you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see."

"You're no fun," Zack said. Normally, he would try arguing with Cody to get information out of him, but he didn't have enough energy at the moment. Instead, he leaned back against the car seat and let his mind drift away while Cody navigated through the crowded streets.

At times like this, Cody was grateful that he'd learned to drive in a city like Boston. Even though this was a different city, the patterns were still the same, and he was used to all the one-way streets that could get less experienced drivers lost in a matter of seconds.

After making his way to the New York Tipton, he parked the car and woke Zack up from his nap.

"Grab your suitcase," he instructed before popping the trunk.

"I didn't pack one." Zack wondered if he had just forgotten about packing one, his mind stilled seemed a little sleep-fogged, so had that just fallen from his memory like the others?

"Don't worry, I took care of that before we came. I had a feeling you'd get excited and forget."

"Have I ever told you that you're awesome?"

"A time or two, maybe."

"Wow, that many?" Zack asked with a grin and the two of them made their way into the hotel.

…

After getting their room key from the front desk, the twins went up to their suite on the sixth floor of the hotel. It wasn't like their suite in Boston—it was just a simple room with two double beds and some assorted furniture spread across it.

"I'm so beat," Zack said as he set his suitcase down and plopped down on one of the beds. He lay on his back, his prized baseball still positioned in his glove. He tossed it up in the air and caught it several times, mesmerized by the gentle pattern.

"Tired already?" Cody asked, both surprised and a little unsettled. "It's only ten o'clock." Zack loved staying up late when he didn't need to get up early, so this seemed strange to him. Although, the past few weeks were nothing but strange.

"Maybe I'm just hungry," Zack said. He sat up again as the thought of food drove away any possible desire to sleep.

"I'll see if I have anything in here," Cody told him. He got out his suitcase and started digging through it. He soon emerged with a small cooler.

"That stuff has to be melted by now," Zack said suspiciously.

"Well, you remember my project for the science fair last year—the one where I came up with an insulation made of interwoven carbon, calcium, and nickel fibers?"

"The one I made fun of you for, and then tried to use as wrapping paper?"

"Yeah, that's the one. It can maintain the temperature of whatever I put in it for 12 hours, as opposed to most coolers only working for a few at most." The younger twin then pulled out a carton of ice cream along with a couple spoons and bowls.

"You are one of the biggest nerds I know, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Zack's eyes went wide; his tongue stuck out just a bit and began watering.

"Thanks," Cody said with a smile before the two of them started digging into the delicious frozen treat. Soon the two bowls were empty, the twins' stomachs were full, and the sugar began affecting Zack, making him completely forget about being tired earlier.

Zack stood up abruptly, leaving his dirty dishes just laying there, something that Cody would have normally scolded him for, but figured vacation wasn't the time for that. "Let's go," he declared, walking over to the door.

"Where?" Cody asked, a bit shocked at his brother's spontaneous decision.

"It's still early, and this is a brand new Tipton to have fun in. There are a few things I always wanted to try, but was sure Moseby would know it was me."

He left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Uh, that might not be such a good idea," Cody said to himself, before running off to stop Zack from doing something that would get the police called on him.

…

After frantically searching the hallways around the room, Zack was still nowhere in sight. _'This could be bad. I didn't bring enough money to bail Zack out of jail,'_ the younger twin thought before running to the elevator hoping that Zack would be in the lobby and that he hadn't done anything too bad yet.

Upon riding the elevator down to the lobby, he saw his brother at the front desk talking to the night manager.

"Wow Zack, thanks for all the help. I'll make sure to have our technician get that fixed tomorrow," a familiar voice said.

"Not a problem, Skippy, I'm just glad to help," Zack said with a smile of a job well done. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Well, they needed someone to work here after their normal night manager had an unfortunate incident with a blow torch and a kitchen sink. Moseby recommended me, saying that I deserved this."

"Really?" the twins asked in unison. Skippy had never been known as a competent worker; in fact, it was amazing that Moseby hadn't fired him yet. His working here most likely had to do with the fact that most people preferred not to work through the night, something Skippy didn't have a problem doing. Even if many nights he did more sleeping than working.

"Yep, his exact words were that the manager here deserved to have me work for him for payback over the Great Wolf Lodge incident of 1998. I don't really know what happened then, but so far this place is great."

"That's…great," Cody said half-heartedly, not caring that much about the relationship Moseby had with the various hotel managers before turning to his brother, "but now we need to be going."

"We do?" Zack asked innocently.

"Yes, we do," the younger twin said, before pulling his brother away. "What did you do?" he asked once they were out of earshot of the night manager.

"Well I came down here looking for something fun and I saw Skippy here, so I told him that the phone lines were mixed up and I kept getting calls for room service and wakeup calls." A huge grin spread across Zack's mouth.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. Room 1023 will be getting a wakeup call at 4:30 in the morning in an Irish folk style, rooms 932, 821, 833 and 534 will be getting normal calls at the fun time of five in the morning. Some assorted rooms will be getting omelets and pancakes delivered at random times. I think my favorite is what I did for room 1243 though. They will be getting a pizza delivered at 8 am covered in jalapeños, pineapple, honey chipotle sauce, anchovies, cookie crumbs, and icing." Zack couldn't help but laugh at his fun ideas.

"That has to be the worst pizza ever created."

"It is, little brother," Zack said accurately while putting his hand on Cody's shoulder. "Though I wonder what a peanut butter, icing, and cottage cheese pizza would be like."

"What kind of sick, twisted person would come up with something that horrible?" Cody asked, not wanting to know the actual answer.

"I'd be more interested to find the person that would eat it. Anyway, I'm bored now so let's see what else this hotel has to offer."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Don't worry, I'm done with pranks," Zack said innocently, but Cody wasn't convinced.

"Fine, I guess," Cody said through a sigh before following his brother as they wandered around the ground floor of the hotel. They came across the pool, but passed it by since it was about to close and their swim trunks were upstairs. However, the basketball courts grabbed Zack's attention.

"You up for a little one-on-one?" Zack said with a bit of excitement in his voice. Since practicing with Neal, he hadn't had the chance to play basketball, and wanted to make sure he didn't lose his touch. And since it was empty, he saw no reason why not.

"That could be fun," Cody said, and they entered the indoor arena. It looked to rival a full-length court, but was divided up into several smaller courts to allow more people to play. However, at this time of night, it was vacant except for the twins.

"Your ball first," Zack said, grabbing one of the orange spheres off the rack and bouncing it to his brother.

Cody went to the top of the smaller court and began dribbling the ball, trying to logically analyze the situation. He knew Zack could beat him at any aspect of the game, but that didn't mean he would give up. No, that just meant he had to use his mind to get an advantage. As he always said, sports were as much mental as physical.

He tried running by Zack, but the ball got knocked away easily. Fortunately, Cody managed to reclaim control before his brother could steal it, and took advantage of Zack's momentum to get by him for an easy score.

"Not bad, little Bro," Zack said, receiving the ball from Cody.

"I guess forcing me to practice with you all those times has helped my game too," Cody said confidently. Cody had never been the athletic twin, but when Zack needed someone to practice with before a big game, Cody was always there. He had picked up a few tricks, and while he was nowhere near as good as Zack, he was no longer just a pushover.

"Not enough to beat me though," Zack replied with a hint of arrogance, hoping to trigger Cody's competitive side. He charged down court, making the younger twin instinctively take a defensive stance. To Cody's surprise though, Zack stopped several feet before reaching him and jumped into the air, letting the ball fly above him and elegantly swoosh through the hoop. "And that's a three."

Cody rolled his eyes, not surprised in the least, and just continued the game.

The game continued for several more minutes, Zack gaining a 20-12 lead. It didn't come as a surprise to either of them, but that didn't mean both twins weren't putting everything they had into the game to win.

Cody had the ball and decided to try Zack's trick to score and shot from far away. Once the older twin saw Cody's plan he ran at him and jumped into the air as the ball left Cody's fingertips. Zack reached his hand out and slammed the ball back down to the floor, right at Cody's feet.

This threw Cody off balance, the ball making it's way under a foot Cody had in the air. He stepped down onto it, the ball rolling away, throwing Cody to the ground, his knees making a loud noise as they slammed into the floor while the rest of his body followed. The younger twin's body was sprawled out on the court, his mind still trying to register what had just happened.

"You okay, Codes?" Zack asked, kneeling by his brother, ignoring the ball that was now rolling away.

"Yeah, my knees just sting," Cody said, as Zack helped him back to his feet. Looking down, they saw that Cody's knees were scraped and bleeding, tiny rivers of blood flowing down his legs and speckling the court.

"Hold on, I'll be right back." Zack sprinted as fast as he could to the towel rack, grabbed two white towels and sprinted back. He then gently wrapped them around his brother's legs. Zack applied, as much pressure as he could while at the same time was tender enough to limit the pain.

"There we go," he said once the bleeding had stopped.

"I think we should probably head back to the room," Cody said, slightly queasy at seeing his blood on the formerly white towels.

"Yeah, we both know I was going to win anyway."

"Rematch tomorrow then?"

"Sure, I'm always up for an easy win," Zack replied with a smirk.

…

**A/N: If you want the long version of the AN, see one of the other stories I posted today. Short version, this story will be finished, thanks to the-lovely-anomoly, Ainne and Wyntirsno for betaing. Please review.**


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